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1906 

MAIN 


<3amson  Centenary 

Boston,  flDass. 


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'  LIBRARY 

I     UNIVERSITY  OF     I 
\CAUFORNIAy 


Garrison, Wm  L^oyd, Am  Abolitionist 
B.  Newburyport,Mass.  1805, 
Founded  LIBERATOR, famous  anti- 
slavery  journal; became  leader  of 
fanatical  abolitionists.  Founder 
of  Am  Anti-slavery  Society, 1833, 
Mobbed  in  Bos.  1835, Lectured  w/ 
Negro  Fred'k  Douglas,  1847;****** 
After  Civil  War  campaigned 
against  Liquor, prostitution, 
Favored  tfom«n 


Celebration      . 

tf  tff 


0nt  Hunarebtf) 

of  the  birth  of 

tft  WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON 

•T* 


By  the  Colored  Citizens  of  Greater  Boston  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Suffrage  League  of  Boston  and  Vicinity 

DECEMBER  TENTH  and  ELEVENTH,  MCMV  *§* 

jf. 

With  abridged   accounts   of  celebrations  held  by  certain  churches  of  Greater  Boston 

Sunday  Evening,  December  Tenth,  in  response  to  appeal  of 

the  Suffrage  League 


Reported  by  Miss  Ethel  Lewis,  Cambridge 
Edited  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Suffrage  League  Centenary  Committee 

3?  <t> 


BOSTON 

tip  tj+ 

The  Garrison  Centenary  Committee  of  the  Suffrage  League  of  Boston  and  Vicinity 

1906 


LOAN  STACK 


COPYRIGHT,  1906 

BY 
GARRISON  CENTENARY  COMMITTEE 

Publishers, 
BOSTON,    MASS. 


PREFACE 

The  Suffrage  League  of  Boston  and  vicinity,  under  whose 
auspices  a  two  days  citizens'  celebration  of  the  one  hundredth  an 
niversary  of  the  birth  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  abolition 
ist,  was  held  in  Boston,  Dec.  loth  and  nth,  1905,  voted  at  a 
meeting  held  at  3  Tremont  Row,  Room  19,  Dec.  22nd.,  1905, 
to  authorize  the  publication  in  book  form  of  a  record  of  this 
citizens'  celebration  with  an  abridged  account  of  those  church 
celebrations  held  Dec.  loth,  1905,  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  in 
response  to  the  League's  appeal  to  clergymen.  In  pursuance 
of  that  vote  the  Garrison  Centenary  Committee  of  the  League 
have  published  this  book. 

In  its  preparation  and  publication  they  have  had  the  active 
support  of  the  Citizens'  Committee  of  Arrangements  of  the  cel 
ebration,  and  the  assistance  of  those  who  took  part  in  the  pro 
gram,  of  invited  guests,  and  of  many  other  citizens.  The  Com 
mittee  are  especially  indebted  to  Miss  Ethel  G.  Lewis,  who  volun 
teered  her  services  as  stenographer  and  attended  nearly  all  of 
the  sessions  of  the  central  celebration.  Through  her  services,  and 
the  kindness  of  speakers  who  furnished  manuscript,  the  Com 
mittee  are  able  to  present  the  main  portion  of  every  speech  de 
livered,  save  one  the  author  of  \vhich  preferred  its  omission.  They 
are  indebted  to  Mr.  Francis  J.  Garrison,  also,  for  use  of  several 
cuts. 

The  value  of  this  volume  consists,  not  in  its  literary  form — 
for  it  is  but  a  plain  narrative  of  events — but  rather  in  its  accur 
ate  historical  record  of  a  remarkable  tribute  to  the  memory  of 
one  of  the  world's  greatest  moral  heroes  by  the  citizens  of  the 
city  where  he  worked,  suffered  and  triumphed,  a  generation  after 
his  death.  Its  further  value  consists  in  the  recorded  utterances 
of  men  and  women  of  strong  intellect  and  of  earnest  purpose, 
some  of  whom  knew  Mr.  Garrison  as  an  intimate  friend  or  rela 
tive,  utterances  which,  taken  together,  constitute  a  notable  con 
tribution  to1  the  literature  of  agitation  for  human  liberty  and 
equal  rights. 

That  this  book  may  increase  veneration  for  the  great  anti- 
slavery  agitator,  lead  men  and  women  to  emulate  his  example, 
and  help  the  anti-salvery  cause  of  today,  and  of  the  future,  is 
the  prayer  of  its  publishers. 

Joshua  A.  Crav/ford,  Chairman ;  Leigh  W.  Carter,  Geo.  F. 
Grant,  Charles  H.  Hall,  N.  B.  Marshall,  Emery  T.  Morris,  C. 
H.  Plummer,  A.  H.  Scales,  Charles  H.  Scales,  C.  G.  Steward, 
Joseph  Lee,  Wm.  Monroe  Trotter,  Garrison  Centenary  Com 
mittee  of  the  Suffrage  League  of  Boston  and  Vicinity. 

Wm.   Monroe  Trotter,   Secretary. 
Boston,  January,  1906. 


082 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 


EXERCISES  OF  SUNDAY,  DECEMBER   IOTH. 

At  the  Grave        .........  7 

At  "Rockledge" I3 

At  the  Statue 1 7 

At  the  Joy  Street  African  Baptist  Church    •         .          .         .  21 

EXERCISES  OF  MONDAY,  DECEMBER  1 1  TH. 

Faneuil  Hall  : 

Morning  Session      .                   ......  31 

Afternoon  Session             .......  36 

Evening  Session 49 

Citizens'  Committee     ........  65 


Auxiliary  Church  Celebrations 69 


The  Two  Days  Citizens'  Cele= 

bration  of  the  Garrison 

Centenary  in  Boston 

Massachusetts 


Exercises  of  Sunday,   Dec.  10,  1905 


AT  THE  GRAVE,  FOREST  HILLS  CEMETERY 


The  two-days  celebration  of  the 
one-hundreth  anniversary  of  the  birth 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  the 
abolitionist,  by  the  citizens  of  Great 
er  Boston,  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Suffrage  League  of  Boston  and  vi 
cinity,  was  formally  opened  just  be 
fore  one  o'clock  Sunday  afternoon, 
Dec.  10,  1905,  at  the  grave  of  the 
great  anti-slavery  agitator  on  Smilax 
path,  Forest  Hills  cemetery  in  the 
Forest  Hills  district  of  Boston,  Mass. 

The  city  recognized  the  celebration 
by  flying  the  flags  at  full  mast  Sun 
day  and  Monday  from  all  public  build 
ings,  and  many  school  children  held 
Garrison  exercises  in  the  class  room. 

It  had  been  snowing  all  night  and 
*ras  still -Showing  when  the  small  body 
of  admirers  arrived  at  the  goal  of 
their  pilprimage,  some  in  hacks  and 
some  on  foot,  among  them  two  women 
and  a  little  boy. 

Benjamin  H.  Washington,  son  of  the 
Stoughton  florist,  who  was  to  donate 
the  wreath  for  the  statue,  and  grand 
son  of  a  former  deacon  of  the  Smith 
Court  church  scraped  the  snow  from 
the  grave  stone  and  William  Monroe 
Trotter,  son  of  the  late  Lieut.  James 
M.  Trotter  of  the  55th  Mass.  Regiment, 
removed  the  snow  from  the  top  of  the 
grave.  When  the  small  company  had 


drawn  reverently  near  Mr.  J.  A.  Craw 
ford,  chairman  of  the  Garrison  Cen 
tenary  committee  of  the  Bos 
ton  Suffrage  League,  in  a  few 
well  chosen  words,  declared  the 
Citizens'  Celebration,  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Boston  Suffrage 
League,  opened,  saying  how  much  the 
Colored  people  revered  the  name  of 
Garrison  for  his  services  in  the  cause 
of  liberty  and  taking  hope  from  the 
uniting  of  all  elements  of  this  people 
to  honor  Garrison's  memory. 

He  then  called  upon  Chairma^n  Dan 
iel  H.  Miner  of  the  Citizen's  Wreath 
Committee,  who  placed  two  wreaths 
upon  the  tablet,  assisted  by  Mr.  Emery 
T.  Morris,  nephew  of  Robert  Morris, 
the  great  lawyer  of  the  early  times. 

One  wreath  was  donated  by  the 
Boylston  street  florists,  Houghton  and 
Clark,  and  the  other  by  Mr.  J.  H. 
McKenzie,  member  of  the  wreath  com 
mittee.  Then  Rev.  S.  J.  'Comfort,  pas 
tor  of  the  Calvary  Baptist  church,  of 
fered  a  fervent  prayer  in  part  as  fol 
lows: 

We  bless  Thee  today  for  the  name 
of  Garrison  and  for  the  great  army  of 
good  men  and  women  whom  Thou 
didst  raise  up  to  defend  the  cause  of 
the  oppressed.  Thou  hast  especially 
promised  in  Thy  word  to  help  those 
who  are  crushed  by  the  hand  of  op- 


GRAVE    OF    GARRISON 
SMILAX    PATH,    FOREST    HILLS   CEMETERY,  BOSTON 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD   GARRISON 


pression,  and  we  acknowledge  that  we 
are  the  beneficiaries  of  this  precious 
promise  by  the  life  of  him  whose 
name  we  revere  and  commemorate  to 
day.  For,  when  sin  and  avarice  were 
enthroned  in  the  heart  of  the  nation, 
when  the  national  conscience  was 
asleep,  and  when  ministers  of  the 
precious  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  apolo 
gized  and  helped  to  tighten  the  awful 
fetters  upon  the  -slave,  it  was  then 
that  Thou  didst  call  from  the  ranks  of 
the  people  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
who  became  our  friend  and  our  broth 
er,  and  gave  his  life  for  the  freedom 
of  the  slave.  We  thank  Thee  for  the 
unselfish  example  of  his  life  by  which 
he  suffered  in  the  midst  of  poverty, 
and  for  the  great  heroism  of  his  soul 
in  that  he  would  not  be  silent,  but  in 
spite  of  unjust  laws  and  mob  violence 
he  continued  to  deliver  the  message  of 
his  soul  until  this  nation  was  shaken 
from  center  to  circumference,  and  the 
shackles  of  human  slavery  were  burst 
asunder.  We  worship  Thy  name  today 
that  Thou  didst  give  such  a  man  to 
this  nation,  a  man,  who  in  the  midst 
of  persecution  dared  to  stand  alone 
and  proclaim  the  Fatherhood  of  God, 
and  the  Brotherhood  of  man.  In  this 
land  of  the  free,  where  the  gospel  of 
Thy  dear  son  is  preached  every  Sab 
bath,  we  are  still  deprived  of  the 
equal  benefits  of  the  law.  We  are 
lynched  and  proscribed  against,  our 
pathway  is  hedged  in  by  caste  pre 
judice  even  now,  the  weak  are 
wronged  and  oppressed  by  the  strong. 
We  know  that  Thou  art  a  covenant- 
keeping  God.  Thou  didst  come  down 
in  answer  to  the  cry  of  Thy  people 
Israel,  to  deliver  them  and  in  answer 
to  the  groans  ascending  from  huts  and 
cabins  of  slave  plantations  Thou  didst 
raise  up  the  anti-slavery  society  and 
delivered  four  millions  from  that  cruel 
bondage.  We  beseech  Thee  that  Thou 
wouldst  sanctify  the  memories  that 
are  revived  today  by  a  reaffirma- 
tion  of  those  self-evident  truths; 
that  all  men  are  created  equal  and 
endowed  by  their  creator  with  certain 
inalienable  rights,  among  which  are 
life,  liberty,  and  the  pursuit  of  happi 
ness.  We  pray  at  this  time  for  grace 


that  we  may  ever  remember  our  debt 
of  gratitude  for  the  noble  men  and 
women,  who  labored  for  the  cause  of 
justice  and  equality.  Help  us  as  citi 
zens  of  this  great  republic,  and  in  our 
domestic  affairs  to  live  worthy  of  all 
that  they  have  done  for  us.  We  pray 
for  the  emancipation  of  this  nation 
from  the  sin  of  unjust  legislation,  and 
that  from  the  ceremonies  of  this  day 
there  may  be  a  revival  of  the  Garri- 
sonian  fiery  zeal,  consecrated  by  the 
spirit  of  Thy  dear  Son,  and  that  it 
may  continue  to  burn  until  the  equal 
rights  of  a  man  shall  be  acknowledged 
everywhere." 

At  the  close  of  the  prayer,  while 
heads  were  still  bowed  Mr.  Morris  be 
gan  short  tributes,  saying:  "Here  is 
the  grave  of  him  who  said  "My  Coun 
try  is  the  world,  My  Countrymen  are 
all  mankind."  Mr.  Philip  B.  Downing 
son  of  the  late  lamented  Geo.  T. 
Downing,  spoke  of  his  great  love  for 
the  dead  hero  and  urged  that  Colored 
people  unite  to  agitate.  Mrs.  D.  H. 
Miner  told  of  how  her  grandmother, 
"Mam"  Riley,  sold  copies  of  the  Lib 
erator  to  help  Mr.  Garrison,  'after  he 
came  out  of  jail. 

Mr.  Crawford  urged  that  a  Commit 
tee  place  a  wreath  on  the  grave  every 
year.  Mr.  T.  P.  Taylor  told  of  first 
meeting  Mr.  Garrison  in  July,  1857,  of 
the  Colored  men  he  found  in  his  office 
and  of  his  love  for  the  man.  Mr. 
Trotter  told  of  his  admiration  for 
Garrison  and  urged  that  all  rededicate 
themselves  to  agitato  for  equal  rights. 

Others  present  at  the  grave  were 
Mrs.  Ellen  Rahn,  her  grandson  Master 
William  Davenport,  Dr.  J.  R.  Stroud, 
Mr.  Charles  A.  King,  with  reception 
badges,  his  wife  being  secretary  of 
the  reception  committee;  Mr.  L.  J. 
Lynch,  Mr.  W.  M.  Lashly  and  Mr.  J. 
O.  Boone. 

Then  all  wended  their  way  back  to 
the  main  thoroughfare  and  took  cars 
for  the  Statue  exercises. 

The  citizens'  committee  on  Wreath 
were  Mr.  D.  H.  Miner,  chairman,  Mrs. 
Ellen  Rahn,  Mrs.  Arianna  C.  Sparrow, 
Mr.  J.  H.  McKenzie,  Mr.  Joseph  Lee. 


"  ROCKLEDGE."     HOMESTEAD    OF   GARRISON 
1  25  HIGHLAND  STREET     ROXBURY    DISTRICT,    BOSTON 


Jit  "Rockledge 


99 


THE   HOMESTEAD   OF   GARRISON 

Now  St*.  Monica's  Home. 


At  1  o'clock  the  second  session  of  the 
citizens'  celebration  began  at  St.  Mon 
ica's  Home  for  Sick  Colored  Women 
and  Children  at  125  Highland  street, 
RoxburV;  in  the  house  which  was  the 
last  home  of  the  great  anti-slavery  agi 
tator. 

This  session  was  in  charge  of  the 
St.  Monica's  Aid  Sewing  circle,  and 
the  St.  Monica's  Relief  association, 
two  organizations  of  Colored  women 
that  give  financial  aid  to  this  hospital 
which  is  conducted  by  the  noble  Sister 
Catherine  of  the  Episcopalian  Sisters 
of  St.  Margaret,  and  here  again,  de 
spite  the  storm  and  long,  high  climb 
to  "Rockledge,"  a  goodly  number  of 
women  and  several  men  were  present 
to  show  their  devotion.  One  of  the 
latter  was  Mr.  John  D.  Willard,  who 
had  been  a  personal  friend  of  Mr. 
Garrison  and  a  subscriber  to  the  Lib 
erator.  He  was  the  organist  in 
Theodore  Parker's  church.  The  last 
time  he  had  visited  the  house  was 
when  Mr.  Garrison  was  living. 

The  exercises,  which  were  held  in 
the  room  named  the  "Garrison  Ward," 
a  large,  rectangular  room,  formerly 
used  as  the  parlor  of  the  homestead, 
were  presided  over  by  an  ardent  ad 
mirer  of  Mr.  Garrison,  Rev.  David  R. 
Wallace,  assistant  pastor  of  the  Epis 
copal  Mission  of  St.  Martin's  on  Lenox 
street.  He  began  by  saying  the  com 
pany  were  gathered  together  on  that 
memorable  occasion  at  the  home  of 
the  great  hero,  and  should  begin  with 
prayer,  commending  themselves  to  Al 
mighty  God.  In  his  prayer  he  thanked 
the  Almighty  that  he  had  sent  a  son 
to  be  a  deliverer  to  the  children  of 
African  descent,  and  had  permitted 
them  to  witness  the  100th  anniversary 
of  the  birth  of  the  great  emancipator. 

Rev.  Wallace  then  addressed  those 
assembled.  He  said  it  was  his  lot 
to  be  chairman  as  well  as  to  pray. 

Rev.  Father  Wallace  said  in  part:  — 

It  is  my  lot  to  be  chairman  of  this 
meeting,  and  I  assure  you  that  it  is 


a  very  great  honor.  It  does  not  often 
come  to  one  of  my  years  to  occupy 
so  honorable  a  position,  when  you 
realize  that  only  a  year  or  so  before 
Garrison's  death  I  was  an  infant  in 
arms.  And  so  I  feel  it  a  great  privil 
ege  and  a  very  pleasant  one  to  be  here 
in  the  very  home  of  Garrison,  in  this 
place  where  he  found  a  refuge  from 
the  great  storm  and  stress  of  his  life. 
I  think  the  friends  of  Garrison  could 
have  chosen  no  better  place  than  this 
haven.  Here,  perched  upon  the  ledges 
named  fitly  "Rockledge,"  he  found 
peace  from  the  great  stress  and  strain 
and  storms  and  wrecks  of  the  anti- 
slavery  struggle.  And  from  this  high 
eminence  we  can  imagine  him  look 
ing  out  into  the  world,  seeing  the 
peace  that  came  to  the  many  millions 
of  souls  because  of  his  untiring,  his 
unselfish  labor.  We  know  that  Gar 
rison  was  a  man  of  peace,  and  we  do 
not  want  to  lose  sight  of  that  fact 
simply  because  the  end  of  his  labors 
resulted  in  one  of  the  greatest  of 
civil  wars.  He  was  a  man  who  be 
lieved  that  his  cause,  the  cause  which 
he  espoused  could  be  a  peaceable 
one,  and  in  the  articles  of  the  con 
stitution  of  the  anti-slavery  society 
there  is  special  mention  of  the  fact 
that  peaceable  methods  were  to  be 
used.  It  is  not  Garrison's  fault  that 
there  was  the  storm  and  the  stress  of 
it  all.  It  was  not  his  fault  that  this 
country  was  convulsed  in  a  dread 
civil  war.  Not  his  fault  in  the  least. 
Had  men  hearkened  to  his  wise  words 
in  the  beginning,  or  if  they  had  re 
pented  later  and  hearkened  even  after 
a  time,  this  whole  cause  of  the  de 
livery  of  an  oppressed  people  would 
have  been  peaceably  settled.  We  think 
at  this  time  of  the  great  anti-slavery 
liberators  of  Great  Britain, —  of  Wil- 
berforce,  of  Pitts,  and  Fox,  and  those 
other  great  men.  And  we  think  from 
time  to  time  of  the  peaceable  settle 
ment  of  the  slavery  question  in  Eng 
land  and  its  colonies,  and  we  wish  that 
it  could  have  been  peaceably  settled 


ONK    HrNDRKDTH     ANN  I V  KRSA RV 


here.  But,  my  friends,  we  must  realize 
that  this  country  was  not  England, 
and  that  the  people  of  this  country 
could  not  be  influenced  by  argument 
like  the  people  of  England  and  the 
people  in  their  parliament.  So  it 
seemed  that  there  had  to  be  this 
great  conflict. 

We  think  of  William  Lloyd  Garri 
son  in  this  his  homestead,  the  haven 
where  he  found  peace  after  the  strife. 
It  is  not  given  to  men  always  to  see 
the  consummation  of  their  efforts, 
but  it  was  given  to  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  to  see  the  results  of  his  life 
long  agitation.  And  finally  after  the 
results  were  accomplished  he  was  able 
to  come  to  this  haven  of  rest  and 
peace.  And  now  we  gather  here  in 
this  haven,  and  think  of  that  great 
man,  and  wish  and  pray  that  he  may 
have  peace  forever  more,  an  everlast 
ing  peace. 

Mrs.  Wm.  O.  Goodell,  secretary  of 
the  Relief  association,  then  read  very 
entertainingly  the  salutatory  of  The 
Liberator  published  Jan.  1.  1831.  after 
which  Mrs.  Geraldine  L.  Trotter,  ex- 
president  of  the  Relief  association,  in 
the  absence  of  the  president,  Mrs. 
George  Glover,  was  called  upon. 

Mrs.  Trotter  said  in  part: 

I  had  wished  for  a  pleasant  day 
today.  I  wanted  the  sun  to  shine  and 
the  birds  to  sing  or  chirrup,  as  they 
do  in  the  winter,  but  I  think  as  God 
looked  back  over  the  years  of  Garri 
son,  He  thought  such  a  day  as  this 
would  better  stand  for  his  life.  We 
should  be  willing  to  do  for  Garrison 
the  things  he  did  for  us.  How  many 
times  he  trudged  through  the  cold, 
bleak  and  snow,  and  talked  to  a  few 
people,  and  took  the  criticism  of  the 
many  for  our  good. 

And  so  today  I  think  he  must  be 
looking  down  on  us  here  as  we  gather 
to  do  him  honor,  pleased  with  our  ap 
preciation  of  his  life.  I  really,  when 
I  think  it  over,  am  glad  that  the  day 
is  not  fine,  because  it  will  show  how 
many  of  us  really  appreciate  what  he 
did  for  us.  And  what  more  fitting 
place  could  there  be  than  this,  in 
which  to  gather  to  do  his  memory  hon 
or.  Here,  after  Garrison  had  spent  his 
best  years  fighting  for  the  freedom  of 
the  slaves,  years  other  men  would 
have  used  to  accumulate  wealth,  when 
he  was  an  old  man,  and  his  friends  who 
appreciated  what  he  had  done  had 
collected  a  large  sum  of  money  and 
presented  it  to  him,  buying  this  place, 


he  came  to  live.  This  place  stands  for 
the  sacrifice  he  made  and  in  its  pres 
ent  capacity  stands  for  the  secrifice 
made  by  others. 

It  is  now  a  haven  for  the  sick, 
cared  for  by  people  who  have  given  up 
much  to  be  here.  Here  his  wife,  who 
had  been  his  true  helDmeet  through 
all  his  trials,  lived  an  "invalid  until 
she  passed  on  to  the  Higher  Life."  l 
believe  in  this  very  room  his  daughter 
was  married.  This  home  is  a  place  of 
sacred  memories,  a  hallowed  spot,  and 
I  say,  what  better  place  could  we  be 
in  today,  where  better  could  we  honor 
this  man's  memory,  or  draw  the  les 
son  of  what  we  should  do?  And  I 
think  that  each  one  of  us  should 
pledge  ourselves  to  make  some  sacri 
fice,  to  do  something  for  the  good  of 
others.  Just  as  he  sacrificed  himself 
for  us,  we  should  make  some  sacrince 
ourselves  in  his  honor.  Today  what 
do  we  honor  about  Garrison?  Is  ft 
the  material  things?  No.  It  is  the 
moral  stand  he  took,  the  fight  he  made 
for  the  down-trodden,  the  voice  he 
raised  for  those  who  had  no  voice,  the 
courage  that  stood  for  the  right, 
though  all  the  world  were  on  the  oth 
er  side.  This  man  who  was  mobbed 
in  the  streets  of  Boston  by  respectable 
people — men  with  silk  hats  and  frock 
coats,  for  us — how  many  of  us  are  now 
willing  to  do  for  our  own  what  that 
man  did  for  us?  How  many  of  us  are 
willing  to  stand  out  against  the 
broadcloth  mob.  to  stand  by  what  is 
right  in  spite  of  the  criticism  of  the 
many?  That  is  the  great  lesson  we 
Colored  people  should  learn,  those  of 
us  who  have  had  the  advantages  of  ed 
ucation,  who  have  seen  life  in  its 
broadest  light,  to  be  willing  to  sacri 
fice  and  to  care  as  much  for  our  race 
as  he  did,  to  do  for  our  down-trodden 
people  all  in  our  power,  for  those 
who  are  not  able  to  stand  up  for 
themselves  to  stand  up  for  them,  to 
make  their  cause  our  cause,  their 
sufferings  our  suffering,  as  Garrison 
said  "I  made  the  slaves  case  from  the 
start  and  always  my  own.  My  wife 
and  children  were  they  made  for  the 
auction  block?  Never!"  Let  us 
do  that,  let  us  do  as  much  as  we 
can  for  the  oppressed,  and  may  no 
words  of  ours  be  words  of  con 
demnation  of  our  own.  Let  us  act  so 
that  when  we  meet  Garrison  in  the 
great  beyond  he  will  know  we  appre 
ciated  the  sacrifice  he  made  for  us. 

In  behalf  of  the  Aid  Sewing  circle,  a 


HELEN  ELIZA  GARRISON 
NOBLE    WIFE  OF  THE  GREAT    ANTI-SLAVERY  AGITATOR 


i6 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


poem  composed  by  Mr.  Garrison  him 
self,  entitled  "The  Sons  of  the  Aboli 
tionist,"  was  read  effectively  by  Miss 
Bessie  Lee.  daughter  of  Mrs.  Robert 
Lee,  treasurer  of  the  sewins  circle. 

Mrs.  Arianna  C.  Sparrow  then  save 
brief  personal  reminiscences  of  Mr. 
Garrison.  She  said  she  was  perhaps 
the  only  one  present  who  had  come 
Within  the  radiance  of  Mr.  Garrison's 
personal  influence.  She  was  bro.i-?ht 
by  her  mother,  who  escaped  from  slav 
ery,  to  Boston,  and  was  met  by  the  la 
mented  Lewis  Hayden,  and  taken  to 
his  house,  which  was  a  hot-bsd  of  an 
ti-slavery  activity.  Her  mother  and 
she  were  taken  to  the  anti-slavery  so 
ciety's  rooms,  and  there  Mr.  Garrison 
put  his  loving  arms  around  her,  and 
she  remembered  the  sensation  to  this 
day,  as  one  feels  when  singing  the 
hymns  of  being  in  the  arms  of  Jesus. 

Mrs.  Sparrow's  remarks  were  very 
brief,  she  saying  that  all  else  she 
could  add  was  to  hope  for  the  auspi 
cious  ending  of  an  event  so  auspi 


ciously  begun,  as  she  was  too  deeply 
stirred  for  speech. 

Rev.  Wallace  then  closed,  saying 
the  occasion  had  been  touching,  and 
would  not  soon  fade  from  memory.  All 
who  felt  so  inclined  were  invited  by 
the  ladies  to  leave  a  donation  for  the 
work,  and  then  he  pronounced  the 
benediction,  after  which  most  of  those 
present  went  out  in  the  storm  to  take 
cars  for  the  statue  exercises. 

The  officers  of  the  Sewing  circle  are: 
Mrs.  E.  J.  Benjamin,  president;  Mrs. 
Frank  Turpin,  vice-president;  Mrs. 
Campbell,  2d  vice-president;  Mrs.  Robt. 
Lee,  treasurer;  Mrs.  O.  Armstead,  sec 
retary;  officers  of  Relief  association, 
Mrs.  George  S.  Glover,  president ;  Mrs. 
Adelaide  S.  Terry,  vice-president;  Mrs. 
W.  O.  Goodell,  secretary;  Miss  Maude 
Trotter,  assistant  secretary;  Mrs. 
George  F.  Grant,  treasurer;  commit 
tee  on  session,  Mrs.  E.  J.  Benjamin, 
Mrs.  Anthony  Smith,  Mrs.  Lillian  Car 
roll. 


Jit  the  Statue 

ON  COMMONWEALTH  AVENUE  MALL 


The  third  session  of  the  citizens' 
celebration  took  place  at  2.30  at  the 
statue  of  Garrison  on  Commonwealth 
avenue,  and  the  interest  and  devotion 
shown  by  the  school  children  and  by 
the  old  men  was  a  most  inspiring 
sight. 

When  the  men  and  women  who  had 
gone  to  the  grave  reached  Copley 
square,  they  found  several  hundred 
Sunday  school  children  from  the  va 
rious  Colored  churches  in  Boston  and 
Cambridge  assembled  in  the  corridors 
of  the  Public  Library,  in  charge  of 
Mrs.  Olivia  Ward  Bush.  Conspicuous 
among  their  teachers  were  Mr.  Philip 
J.  Allston  and  Mr.  John  W.  Williams, 
superintendent  at  the  Zion  A.  M.  E. 
church.  There  also  were  many  citi 
zens  present. 

At  2.30  the  company  formed  in  line, 
the  procession  being  headed  by  the 
Boston  brass  band,  Mr.  Henry  Dixon, 
leader,  followed  by  the  Robt.  G.  Shaw 
Veteran  association  and  a  few  mem 
bers  of  the  Peter  Salem  Garrison, 
Spanish  War  Veterans,  and  Robt.  Bell 
post,  G.  A.  R.  Behind  these  came  C. 
G.  Morgan,  Rev.  B.  A.  Horton,  Capt. 
Charles  L.  Mitchell  and  Mr.  J.  N.  But 
ler,  members  of  the  Boston  Suffrage 
League  and  Citizens'  committees,  then 
the  Sunday  school  children,  led  by 
Mrs.  Bush  and  attended  by  their 
teachers,  and  then  the  citizens,  men 
and  women.  As  the  ckimes  of  the 
Arlington  Street  church  began  to  play 
the  tune  of  the  "Battle  Hymn  of  the 
Republic,"  the  procession  started  out 
of  the  Library  and  in  the  snow  storm 
proceeded  to  Commonwealth  avenue, 
the  sidewalks  having  been  cleared  for 
the  occasion  by  the  city  employes.  As 
the  line  turned  into  the  boulevard  it 
was  met  with  a  blast  of  wind  and  sleet 
that  nearly  took  the  children  and  wo 
men  off  their  feet.  The  slush  was 
ankle  deep  and  the  wind  biting  cold. 
But,  undaunted,  the  line  moved  across 
the  street  into  the  mall  and  up  to  the 


statue  and  encircled  it.  As  they 
reached  the  statue  the  children  sang 
two  verses  of  the  "Battle  Hymn  of  the 
Republic,"  the  band  playing  the  tune, 
the  chimes  pealing  it  forth  and  Mr. 
Geo.  Sharper  playing  on  the  cornet. 
The  children  read  the  verses  from 
souvenir  cards,  on  one  side  of  which 
was  the  cut  of  the  statue  and  on  the 
other  a  cut  of  Mr.  Garrison. 

At  the  statue  the  procession  met  the 
venerable  John  W.  Hutchinson,  the 
famous  singer  in  the  anti-slavery  days. 

The  exercises  were  opened  by  C.  G. 
Morgan,  Esq.,  as  vice-president  of  the 
Boston  Suffrage  League.  This  exer 
cise  was,  indeed,  the  most  heroic  of 
them  all.  Speaking  in  a  voice  of  won 
derful  strength  and  richness,  he  said: 

The  day  is  very  inclement,  so  we 
shall  remain  at  the  statue  but  a  very 
few  moments.  I  desire  on  behalf  of 
the  citizens  of  Boston  to  say  that  we 
have  come  here  today  to  pay  honor 
to  the  greatest  moral  hero  that  Amer 
ica  ever  produced.  And  we  believe 
the  greatst  moral  hero  the  world  ever 
saw,  but  one,  and  that  exception  the 
great  Master  of  Men.  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  was  undoubtedly  the  central 
figure  in  that  great  struggle  for  human 
liberty,  for  which  the  19th  century  un 
doubtedly  stands.  We  have  come  to 
day  to  place  on  this  monument  erect 
ed  in  his  honor  by  citizens  of  this  his 
toric  city  a  very  small  indication  of 
the  love  and  affection  which  we  bear 
him,  and  that  indication  is  only  a  sym 
bol  of  that  chaplet  which  our  hearts 
will  always  wreathe  and  keep  eter 
nally  green. 

It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  intro 
duce  to  you  here  today  as  the  friend 
who  will  place  it  upon  this  memorial 
monument  one  of  the  friends  who 
went  to  the  front  from  Massachu 
setts,  one  of  the  heroes  of  the  big 
contest,  our  esteemed  friend,  Capt. 
Charles  L.  Mitchell. 

Capt.  Mitchell,  assisted  by  Mr.  Nath 
aniel  Butler,  who  worked  in  the  of- 


GARRISON  STATUE  ON  CCMMOMWEALLH  AVENUE  MALL,  BOSTON 


BIRTH    OF  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


fice  of  the  "Liberator,"  placed  the 
wreath  on  the  statue.  It  was  a  grand 
sight  to  see  these  two  venerable  Col 
ored  friends  and  former  employes  of 
the  great  abolitionist  hobble  up  to 
the  statue  and  place  the  wreath  at  its 
base. 

The  wreath  was  donated  by  Mr. 
Benjamin  F.  Washington,  the  florist 
of  Stoughton,  Mass.  It  was  made  up 
by  his  daughter,  Miss  Addie  H.  Wash 
ington. 

The  Rev.  E.  A.  Horton,  chaplain  of 
the  state  senate,  then  offered  a  won 
derful  prayer.  He  said:  "Almighty 
God,  thou  hast  given  us  this  beloved 
land  that  we  may  have  happy  homes 
and  artful  pursuits,  but  we  thank 
Thee  most  of  all  that  Thou  hast  given 
us  illustrious,  ardent  souls  that 
inspired  the  minds  and  thrilled  the 
hearts  of  the  freemen  and  freewomen 
of  this  Republic.  And  here  today,  with 
love,  with  an  esteem  that  can 
not  be  measured  by  words, 
we  place  this  chaplet.  This  is 
not  the  first  time,  gracious  Guardian 
of  the  race,  that  these  people 
have  had  overcast  skies  and  trou 
blous  times  around  them,  and  this 
is  not  the  first  time  that  they 
have  come  through  victorious  to 
sing  their  psalms  of  thanksgiving. 
And  Our  Father,  may  these  peo 
ple,  our  brethren,  as  they  celebrate 
these  two  days,  the  memory  of  this 
great  man,  so  teach  all  citizens  that 
forever  and  foremost  in  this  land  are 
liberty  and  justice  and  brotherhood, 
and  may  the  exercises  here  brightly 
close,  as  it  were,  and  bring  the  sun 
shine  of  happiness  and  encouragement 
to  every  one  of  them  and  to  every 
one  of  us.  Gracious  God,  we  do  not 
forget,  though  busy  and  prosperous  in 
the  present  hour,  what  Thou  hast 
done  for  us  in  the  past,  what  has  been 
done  for  us  by  those  who  in  that  day 


and  generation  were  buffetted  and 
scorned  and  were  so  cruelly  misunder 
stood.  Our  Heavenly  Father,  hear  our 
prayer.  Bless  these  children,  that 
they  may  grow  lip  into  true  manhood 
and  true  womanhood,  and  all 
nationalities,  all  faiths,  and  all  peoples 
may  live  together  beneath  the  flag 
that  means  equality  before  the  law. 
This  prayer  we  ask  for  those  gathered 
here  and  for  the  millions  throughout 
the  Republic  who  are  thinking  of  us 
at  this  hour.  And  this  we  ask  as  disci 
ples  of  the  Christ  and  as  children  of 
the  Father.  Amen." 

Then  Mr.  Hutchinson,  standing  in 
that  howling  gale,  took  his  position 
on  the  pedestal  of  the  statue  of  his 
former  friend  and  co-laborer  and  ex 
plained  and  sang  in  strong,  melodious 
tones  the  old-fashioned  anti-slavery 
songs,  his  long,  white  beard  swaying 
in  the  wind. 

At  the  close  the  line  started  for  a 
short  distance  and  then  broke  ranks, 
many  going  to  the  Smith  Court  syna 
gogue  exercises.  Mr.  Mitchell  and 
Mr.  Butler  were  taken  there  in  a  car 
riage. 

Two  carriages  containing  members 
of  the  Garrison  family,  drove  up  to 
the  statue  while  the  exercises  were  in 
progress. 

The  officers  and  members  of  the 
Boston  Brass  band,  who  rendered 
such  fine  service,  marching  through 
the  storm  to  the  statue  are  Mr.  Henry 
Dixon,  leader;  Mr.  James  F.  Ander 
son,  manager;  Mr.  T.  Singleton,  sec 
retary;  Mr.  J.  J.  Dixon,  treasurer; 
Mr.  C.  iSullivan,  librarian;  Mr.  Geo. 
Jordan,  president;  Anderson,  Sulli 
van,  Mack,  Crawder,  Leaney,  Graves, 
Wilder,  J.  W.  Johnson,  Colbert,  J. 
Johnson,  J.  Moore,  Gillespie,  Connell 
Riley,  Stewart,  Fynes,  Hodges,  Scott, 
Jordan,  Walker,  Salter,  Carter,  Single 
ton,  J.  Dixon  Lambert. 


OLD  JOY    STREET    AFRICAN^  BAPTI  ST    CHURCH.    SMITH    COURT     BOSTON 
WHERE  GARRISON    BEGAN    ORGAN'ZED   OPPOSITION   TO   SLAVERY 


99 


Jit  the  "Jtnti*  Slavery  Fortress 

OLD  JOY  STREET  AFRICAN  BAPTIST  CHURCH 

Now  Synagogue  Libavitz 


The  fourth  session  of  the  Citi 
zens'  celebration  began  soon  after  3 
o'clock,  time  being  conceded  to 
allow  those  who  had  faced  the  storm 
of  sleet  on  the  Commonwealth  avenue 
boulevard,  to  reach  the  building,  the 
Synagogue  of  the  Congregation  Liba 
vitz,  formerly  the  Joy  street  African 
Baptist  church  in  Smith  court,  a  sa 
cred  spot  in  the  anti-slavery  history 
of  Boston.  The  session  was  in  charge 
of  the  Boston  Literary  and  Historical 
Association  and  the  St.  Mark  Musical 
and  Literary  Union,  Boston's  leading 
literary  societies. 

The  auditorium  of  the  old  church 
where  Mr.  Garrison  founded  the  New 
England  Anti-Slavery  society  in  1832, 
and  where  many  stirring  events  in 
those  days  took  place,  and  the  gal 
leries  were  filled  to  overflowing.  Every 
available  seat  was  taken  and  people 
standing  reached  out  in  the  corridors 
In  fact  as  many  as  it  was  deemed  safe 
for  the  building's  strength  were  crowd 
ed  into  it.  There  was  some  effort 
necessary  at  first  to  make  the  men  un 
derstand  that  they  should  keep  thei,1 
heads  covered  in  accord  with  the  cus 
tom  of  the  Jews  in  their  synagogues. 
Seated  on  the  small  altar  platform 
were:  Mr.  Francis  J.  Garrison,  son 
of  the  Abolitionist,  and  member  of  the 
great  publishing  house  of  Houghton, 
Mifflin  &  Company,  and  Butler  R.  Wil 
son,  Esq.,  president  of  the  Boston  Lit 
erary  Association.  On  the  first  step 
Miss  Maude  A.  Trotter,  president  of 
the  St.  Mark  Union,  was  seated  and 
below  and  in  front  of  the  altar  sat 
Missee  Lillian  Chapelle  and  Bessie  V. 
Trotter,  secretaries  of  the  St.  Marks 
and  of  the  Boston  Literary  respective 
ly  and  the  speakers. 

Very  attractive  souvenir  programs 
of  this  session  were  distributed  as  were 
the  jsouvenir  programs  of  the  whole 
Citizens'  two  days'  ceremonies. 

The    ushers    at    this      session    from 


the  Boston  Literary  and  St.  Mark 
Union  were  Misses  Bessie  Lee,  Pearl 
Scottron,  Theresa  and  Leila  Stubbs, 
Maggie  Walker  and  Kathryn  Wright. 

In  opening  Mr.  Wilson  said  in  part: 

The  object  of  our  meeting  today  is 
to,  observe  the  100th  anniversary  of 
the  birth  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 
Of  the  value  of  his  work  and  labor  for 
liberty  and  humanity  we  are  not  yet 
perhaps  able  to  speak  with  calm,  dis 
passionate  judgment.  Our  love  and 
affection  for  him  are  still  too  warm 
and  deep  to  allow  us  to  make  a  full 
comprehensive  analysis.  The  sigh  in 
the  soul  and  the  throb  in  the  heart 
are  still  ours.  We  cannot  forget  that 
on  our  account  no  American  was  ever 
so  bitterly  criticised  and  reviled.  For 
us  he  lived  in  the  white  light  of  a 
cruel  public  criticism  for  a  half  cen 
tury.  For  us  he  went  to  jail.  He 
faced  mobs  around  him;  senators  and 
members  of  congress  could  be  bought; 
press  and  pulpit  could  be  throttled; 
public  opinion  could  be  intimidated; 
the  conscience  of  a  great  people  that 
would  flame  at  the  theft  of  a  dollar 
could  be  lulled  into  indifference  at 
the  theft  of  men  and  women.  But 
this  man  of  simple  manners,  of  plain 
speech,  of  sweet  temper,  of  modest, 
retiring  disposition,  took  a  stand  for 
righteousness  and  justice,  and  though 
the  storms  of  opposition  cavorted  all 
round  about  him,  he  stood  there  until 
the  storms  had  passed  away  and  the 
sunshine  shone  again.  For  us  stand 
ing  immovable,  because  for  us  he 
stood  for  the  right. 

I  like  best  to  think  of  Mr.  Garri 
son's  simple  manners,  the  simplicity 
of  his  home  life.  It  seems  to  me  that 
in  all  the  matter  that  we  have  con 
cerning  him  there  is  this  one  great 
tribute  to  be  gathered,  neither  friend 
nor  foe  ever  attacked  the  sweet, 
white,  clean  personal  living  that  was 
his  always. 


22 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


Then  Miss  Emily  Hallowell,  of  the 
well  known  abolitionist  family,  and 
Mrs.  Mattie  A.  McAdoo  sang  two  duets 
most  charmingly,  plantation  jubilee 
songs,  "Nobody  Knows  de  Trouble  I 
See,"  and  "Is  Massa  Gwine  to  Sell 
Me." 

After  the  singing  Mr.  Wilson  in 
troduced  Mr.  Frank  J.  Garrison,  son 
of  the  Abolitionist,  who  he  said  had 
only  come  at  the  committee's  most  ur 
gent  request. 

Mr.  Garrison  said  in  part: 

When  I  was  told  that  a  meeting  was 
to  be  held  in  the  Joy  Street  church, 
and  was  urged  to  address  it,  I  could 
not  refuse  the  request,  for  if  there  is 
a  spot  in  all  this  wide  country  where 
it  is  fitting  that  this  day  should  be 
commemorated,  it  is  in  this  old  church 
in  which  my  father  began  his  organ 
ized  opposition  to  slavery,  and  struck 
the  keynote  for  the  multitude  of  anti- 
slavery  societies  which  sprang  up  over 
the  north  as  the  consequence  of  the 
one  founded  here  on  the  6th  of  Jan 
uary,  1832. 

No  man  made  self  of  less  considera 
tion  and  to  none  was  incense-burning 
more  distasteful  (than  my  father). 

If  he  could  speak  today,  therefore, 
he  would  pray  to  be  spared  eulogy, 
and  especially  if  offered  by  men  who 
are  indifferent  or  recreant  to  the  prin 
ciples  of  the  Declaration  of  Independ 
ence  and  the  Golden  Rule,  on  which 
he  based  his  warfare.  For  his  advo 
cacy  of  liberty  and  justice  had  noth 
ing  to  do  with  the  complexion,  sex 
or  nationality  of  those  for  whom  he 
pleaded — these  simply  marked  the  vic 
tims  of  oppression.  Human  rights 
are  the  same  everywhere,  and  in  de 
claring  the  world  to  De  nrs  country 
and  all  mankind  his  countrymen,  he 
claimed  the  right  to  vindicate  them, 
regardless  of  geographical  boundaries 
and  human  enactments. 

But  there  can  be  no  question  as  to 
the  sincerity  of  the  tributes  of  grati 
tude  that  will  be  paid  to  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  today  by  the  race 
whom  he  helped  to  liberate  from  bond 
age,  and  it  is  most  appropriate  that 
members  of  it  should  hold  a  service 
in  this  building,  where  the  first  so 
ciety  in  America  to  demand  the  im 
mediate  and  unconditional  abolition  of 
slavery  was  formed.  Mr.  Garrison  said 
his  father  had  no  sentiment  for  build 
ings.  But  if  virtue  and  piety  are 
taught  by  those  old  landmarks,  then 


surely  the  emancipated  race  in  this 
country  may  well  regard  this  building 
in  which  we  are  assembled  as  the  Ark 
of  their  Covenant. 

I  do  not  recall  anything  in  my  fa 
ther's  career  that  illustrates  more 
strikingly  his  sure  instinct,  his  in 
domitable  courage,  his  unwavering 
confidence  in  the  power  of  truth  over 
all  obstacles,  than  the  stand  he  took 
that  stormy  winter  evening  in  the  lit 
tle  schoolroom  downstairs. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  year  (1831) 
he  took  steps  for  the  formation  of  a 
society  to  extend  the  agitation  which 
he  had  begun  single-handed,  and,  af 
ter  three  preliminary  meetings,  fifteen 
persons  gathered  here  in  this  building 
on  the  evening  of  January  6,  1832,  to 
complete  the  organization.  When  the 
preamble  of  the  Constitution  came  up 
for  discussion,  my  father  found  that 
three  of  his  warmest  supporters  and 
closest  friends  were  unprepared  to 
subscribe  their  names  to  the  demand 
for  immediate  emancipation.  They 
believed  in  the  doctrine.  Two  of  them 
— the  only  two  with  pecuniary  re 
sources — had  helped  tide  the  "Liber 
ator"  over  the  financial  shoals  of  its 
first  year,  and  they  were  the  only 
members  of  the  gathering  who  could 
have  been  said  to  have  what  is  called 
social  standing  in  the  community.  "It 
is  a  mistake,"  they  pleaded,  "in  try 
ing  to  form  a  society  and  gain  ad 
herents,  to  demand  immediate  eman 
cipation,  for  it  will  repel  many  good 
men  who  would  otherwise  join  us.  Say 
gradual  emancipation,  and  many  will 
come  to  us."  "Undoubtedly,"  replied 
my  father,  "but  they  will  not  be  worth 
a  straw.  We  must  plant  ourselves 
on  the  bed-rock  of  immediatism.  If 
human  beings  can  be  justly  held  in 
bondage  a  single  hour,  they  can  be 
held  for  days  and  weeks  and  years, 
and  so  on  indefinitely,  from  genera 
tion  to  generation.  The  question  of 
expediency  has  nothing  to  do  with  the 
question  of  right,  and  it  is  not  for 
those  who  tyrannize  to  say  when  they 
may  safely  break  the  chains  of  their 
subjects.  As  well  may  a  thief  deter 
mine  on  what  particular  day  or  month 
he  shall  leave  off  stealing,  with  safe 
ty  to  his  own  interest.  Come,  let  us 
proceed.  We  have  twelve,  the  apos 
tolic  number,  to  begin  with,  even  if 
you  cannot  join  us."  And  so,  undis- 
heartened  by  this  withholding  of  his 
weightiest  associates — Samuel  E.  Sew 
all,  Ellis  Gray  Loring  and  David  Lee 
Child — he  went  ahead,  and  twelve 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


men,  of  whom  not  more  than  one  or 
two  could  have  put  a  hundred  dol 
lars  into  the  treasury  without  bank 
rupting  themselves,  formed  the  New 
England  Anti-Slavery  society.  (Ap 
plause.)  Five  of  these  were  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  his  faithful  partner,  Isaac 
Knapp,  Oliver  Johnson,  afterwards 
editor  of  the  Anti-Slavery  Standard, 
Arnold  Buffum,  a  Quaker  hatter,  and 
Joshua  Coffin,  who  had  been  school 
master  to  the  poet  Whittier.  The  oth 
er  seven  names  you  will  not  recog 
nize,  but  I  will  read  them  in  comple 
tion  of  this  roll  of  honor:  Robert  B. 
Hall,  William  J.  Snelling,  John  E.  Ful 
ler,  Moses  Thacher,  Stillman  B.  New- 
comb,  Benjamin  C.  Bacon,  Henry  K. 
Stockton. 

"A  fierce  northeast  storm,  combin 
ing  snow,  rain  and  hail,  was  raging 
that  night,"  wrote  Oliver  Johnson, 
"and  the  streets  were  full  of  slush." 
They  were  very  dark,  too,  for  the  city 
of  Boston  in  those  days  was  very  eco 
nomical  of  light  on  this  side  of  Bea 
con  Hill.  It  almost  seemed  as  if  na 
ture  were  frowning  upon  the  effort  to 
abolish  slavery,  but  as  the  little  com 
pany  that  formed  the  new  society 
were  stepping  out  into  the  storm  and 
darkness  from  the  African  school- 
house,  Mr.  Garrison  impressively  re 
marked:  "We  have  met  tonight  in 
this  obscure  schoolhouse;  our  mem 
bers  are  few  and  our  influence  limit 
ed;  but,  mark  my  prediction,  Faneuil 
Hall  shall  ere  long  echo  with  the  prin^ 
ciples  we  have  set  forth.  We  shall 
shake  the  nation  by  their  mighty  pow 
er." 

The  roll  of  members  which  I  hold 
in  my  hand,  and  which  increased  in 
numbers  to  seventy-two  during  the 
next  two  years,  contains  the  names 
of  many  well-known  Colored  men  of 
that  day.  I  know  not  how  many  of 
them  will  be  recognized  by  members 
of  this  audience,  but  some  of  them 
were  household  names  in  my  boyhood, 
and  I  know  in  what  warm  esteem  my 
father  held  John  T.  Hilton,  the  bar 
ber  in  Howard  street,  Coffin  Pitts,  the 
clothes  dealer  in  Brattle  street,  James 
C.  Barbadoes,  Philip  A.  Bell,  and  John 
P.  Pero,  another  barber.  There  were 
at  least  five  barbers  on  the  roll,  and 
undoubtedly  they  improved  their  ex 
ceptional  opportunities  for  debate  and 
discussion  while  shaving  and  trim 
ming  their  customers!  Then  there 
was  John  E.  Scarlett,  a  chimney 
sweep,  and  one  of  the  little  band  of 
Colored  men  who  constituted  them 


selves  a  body-guard  to  my  father,  and 
sometimes  followed  him  on  his  belated 
and  lonely  midnight  walks  over  Bos 
ton  Neck  to  his  Roxbury  home,  in  the 
fall  and  winter  of  1834,  to  guard  him 
against  assault.  There  was  Joel  W. 
Lewis,  a  blacksmith,  Roberts,  a  steve 
dore,  Hannibal  Lewis,  a  shoemaker, 
and  Solomon  R.  Alexander,  a  shoe 
maker  and  carpenter  in  one.  Other 
barbers  were  Thomas  Cole,  John  B. 
Cutler,  and  James  Barr,  and  there 
were  two  waiters,  Thomas  Brown  and 
Thomas  Dalton.  And,  finally,  there 
was  Thomas  Paul,  the  Negro  appren 
tice  boy  who  was  the  "only  visible 
auxiliary"  of  my  father  when  Mayor 
Otis'  police  officers  entered  the  attic 
printing  office  of  the  "Liberator"  on 
a  detective  hunt  to  oblige  a  southern 
senator. 

Not  many  great  or  many  mighty 
were  called  to  the  work  at  the  outset, 
but,  as  has  so  often  been  the  case  in 
history,  this  far-reaching  movement 
was  begun  by  obscure  and  humble 
men.  Behold  what  sprang  from  the 
seed  planted  here  that  winter  night! 
Two  years  later  the  American  Anti- 
Slavery  society  was  formed  in  Phila 
delphia,  and  less  than  four  years  after 
that,  in  1837,  Ellis  Gray  Loring  could 
write,  "Our  cause  has  advanced  until 
it  numbers  800  societies.  An  anti- 
slavery  society  has  been  formed  in  the 
United  States  every  day  for  the  last 
two  years.  There  are  300  societies 
in  the  single  state  of  Ohio,  one  of 
which  numbers  4000  members." 

I  shall  not  detain  you  with  any  ac 
count  of  the  white  members  of  the 
New  England  society,  save  to  note 
that  one  of  them,  Moses  Kimball,  lived 
to  present,  nearly  fifty  years  later,  the 
bronze  Emancipation  group  in  Park 
square  to  the  city  of  Boston. 

The  confidence  and  loyal  support  of 
the  Colored  people  in  Boston  and  oth 
er  northern  cities,  poor  and  humble 
as  they  were,  was  a  tower  of  strength 
to  my  father,  as  he  was  a  pillar  of 
light  to  them.  He  was  not  only  the 
first  to  make  a  common  rally  in  the 
slave's  behalf  under  the  banner  of 
immediate  and  unconditional  emanci 
pation.  He  was  the  first  to  address 
on  terms  of  equal  brotherhood  the 
class  next  above  the  slaves  in  public 
contempt  and  legal  disability — the 
free  blacks,  and  this  was  actually 
made  a  reproach  by  one  of  the  most 
eminent  Christian  divines  of  the  day! 
In  the  second  number  of  the  "Libera- 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


tor"  he  courageously  urged  the  re 
peal  of  the  laws  forbidding  marriage 
between  a  white  person  and  a  Negro, 
Indian  or  mulatto,  and  in  the  address 
which  he  delivered  to  the  Colored  peo 
ple  of  Boston  and  other  cities  in 
June,  1831,  he  said: 

"I  never  rise  to  address  a  Colored 
audience  without  feeling  ashamed  of 
my  own  color  ;  ashamed  of  being  iden 
tified  with  a  race  of  men  who  have 
done  you  so  much  injustice,  and  who 
yet  retain  so  large  a  portion  of  your 
brethren  in  servile  chains.  To  make 
atonement,  in  part,  for  this  conduct,  1 
have  solemnly  dedicated  my  health 
and  strength,  and  life,  to  your  ser 
vice.  I  love  to  plan  and  to  work  for 
your  social,  intellectual,  political  and 
spiritual  advancement.  My  happiness 
is  augmented  with  yours:  in  your  suf 
ferings  I  participate. 

"Henceforth  I  am  ready  on  all  days, 
on  all  convenient  occasions,  in  all 
suitable  places,  before  any  sect  or 
party,  at  whatever  perils  to  my  per 
son,  character,  or  interest,  to  plead 
the  cause  of  my  Colored  countrymen 
in  particular,  and  of  human  rights  in 
general.  For  this  purpose,  there  is  no 
day  too  holy,  no  place  improper,  no 
body  of  men  too  inconsiderable  to  ad 
dress.  For  this  purpose  I  ask  no 
church  to  grant  me  authority  to  speak 
— I  require  no  ordination — I  am  not 
careful  to  consult  Martin  Luther,  or 
John  Calvin,  or  His  Holiness  the 
Pope.  It  is  a  duty  which,  as  a  lover 
of  justice,  I  am  bound  to  execute;  as 
a  lover  of  my  fellow-men,  I  ought  not 
to  shun;  as  a  lover  of  Jesus  Christ, 
and  of  his  equalizing,  republican  and 
benevolent  precepts,  I  rejoice  to 
meet." 

Following  this  he  gave  them,  with 
out  condescension  and  in  a  brotherly 
spirit,  much  excellent  advice  and  sug 
gestion  as  to  how  they  might  improve 
their  own  condition  and  promote  the 
education  of  their  children.  I  know 
nothing  more  touching  than  their  re 
sponse,  or  more  truly  prophetic,  "Your 
remarks,"  they  wrote,  "were  full  of 
virtue  and  consolation,  perfect  in  ex 
planation,  and  furnished  a  rule  to  live 
by  and  die  by.  We  feel  fully  persuad 
ed  that  the  day  cannot  be  far  distant 
when  you  will  be  acknowledged  by 
the  very  lips  of  those  who  now  de 
nounce,  revile  and  persecute  you  as 
the  vilest  and  basest  of  men,  the  up- 
rooter  of  all  order,  the  destroyer  of 
our  country's  peace,  prosperity  and 
happiness — to  be  its  firm  reliance,  its 


deliverer,    the    very    pillar    of    its    fu 
ture  grandeur." 

He  often  said  that  the  highest  com 
pliment  ever  paid  him,  the  only  one 
he  cared  to  remember,  was  when  Sir 
Thomas  Fowell  Buxton  of  England 
invited  a  large  company  "to  meet  Mr. 
Garrison,  the  black  advocate  of  eman 
cipation  from  the  United  States." 
(Laughter).  Never  was  there  a  more 
astonished  host  when  the  guest  pre 
sented  himself. 

"Yes;  God  is  my  witness!"  he  said 
to  the  freedmen  of  Charlestown,  South 
Carolina,  on  that  April  day  in  1865, 
when,  as  the  guest  of  the  United 
States  Government,  he  visited  the  old 
slave  city  and  received  the  blessings 
of  the  emancipated,  "I  have  faith 
fully  tried  in  the  face  of  the  fiercest 
opposition  and  under  the  most  de 
pressing  circumstances,  to  make  your 
cause  my  cause,  my  wife  and  chil 
dren  your  wives  and  children,  sub 
jected  to  the  same  outrage  and  deg- 
redation.  myself  on  the  same  auction 
block  to  be  sold  to  the  highest  bid 
der." 

History,  as  Colonel  Higginson  has 
remarked,  is  apt  to  preserve  but  two 
or  three  names  in  connection  writh  any 
great  movement,  and,  in  the  lengthen 
ing  perspective  of  time,  it  may  be,  as 
he  has  suggested,  that  Garrison,  Phil 
lips  and  John  Brown  will  be  the  names 
chiefly  associated  with  the  anti-slav- 
rry  movement  in  the  United  States. 
But  as  my  father  was  ever  eager  to 
recognize  the  services  of  his  fellow- 
workers,  and  to  transfer  to  them  the 
laurels  bestowed  ui*on  himself,  so  to 
day  he  would  insist  on  sharing  with 
them  the  honors  paid  to  his  memory, 
and  would  refuse  to  be  singled  out 
save  as  their  representative."  Mr. 
Garrison  quoted  from  his  father  to 
show  this  to  be  true. 

For  myself,  I  can  never  think  of 
my  father  without  seeing  him  sur 
rounded  by  that  noble  band  of  men 
and  women  who  early  rallied  to  his 
support,  who  stood  by  him  through 
good  and  evil  repute,  and  without 
whose  potent  aid  he  could  never  have 
maintained  his  crusade.  Mr.  Garrison 
then  enumerated  and  paid  a  tribute 
to  many  of  them. 

He  said  he  would  not  exaggerate  the 
perils  and  sufferings  of  the  condemn 
ed  and  unDODtilar  abolitionists,  there 
were  benefits  as  well  as  hardships. 

"When  my  father  passed  away,  the 
reactionary  movement  against  the  ex 
ercise  of  the  elective  franchise  by  the 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD   GARRISON 


25 


southern  freedmen  had  already  set  in, 
and  his  last  published  utterance  was 
a  protest  against  the  proscription 
which  had  driven  hundreds  of  them 
from  Mississippi  and  Louisiana  to  Kan 
sas.  Since  then  the  fraudulent  tissue 
ballots  have  been  succeeded  by  no  less 
fraudulent  enactments  which  have 
practically  disfranchised  the  Colored 
population  of  the  south,  and  if  he 
were  to  return  today  he  would  find 
r.ot  only  the  fifteenth  amendment  to 
the  constitution  nullified,  but  the 
thirteenth  amendment,  which  abolish 
ed  slavery,  defied  by  the  wretches 
who  attempted  a  system  of  peonage 
He  would  find  Negroes  excluded  from 
juries,  from  all  town,  city  and  state 
governing  bodies,  denied  legal  inter 
marriage  with  whites,  restricted  to 
Negro  galleries  in  the  theatres  and 
Negro  cars  on  the  trains,  subjected 
to  excessive  penalties  for  violations 
of  law,  and  in  many  ways  still  vic 
tims  of  that  cruel  and  unrelenting 
race  prejudice  which  he  assailed  from 
the  outset  of  his  warfare  seventy- 
five  years  ago.  He  would  find  women 
denied  their  full  political  rights  in  all 
but  four  states  of  the  Union,  and  the 
Chinese,  whose  claim  to  equal  treat 
ment  with  all  other  immigrants  to 
our  shores  be  vindicated  with  his  lat 
est  breath,  still  excluded  as  outcasts. 
He  would  view  with  amazement  the 
spectacle  of  the  United  States  seizing 
distant  islands,  slaughtering  their  peo 
ple  by  tens  of  thousands,  and  es 
tablishing  colonial  government  "with 
out  the  consent  of  the  governed."  He 
would  be  saddened  by  the  mad  in 
crease  of  naval  armaments,  and  the 
increasing  disposition  to  interfere  in, 
and  arbitrarily  regulate,  the  affairs  of 
feebler  countries.  He  would  deplore 
the  lowering  of  civic  ideals,  the 
growth  of  the  commercial  spirit,  which 
have  resulted  in  the  widespread  busi 
ness  and  political  corruption  now  be 
ing  uncovered  in  our  country.  But 
would  be  disheartened  or  hopless  as 
to  the  future?  Assuredly  not! 

Whoever  follows  the  record  of  his 
life  will  find  that  throughout  his  long 
thirty  years'  warfare,  his  courage  and 
hopefulness,  his  faith  in  God,  his  cer 
tainty  of  the  triumph  of  right,  were 
never  greater  than  vhen  the  outlook 
seemed  darkest  to  others.  So,  to 
day,  he  would  pronounce  the  progress 
made  by  the  Colored  population  of  the 
south  since  emancipation  a  marvel 
lous  record  for  forty  years.  He  would 


exult  in  those  beacon  lights  at  Hamp 
ton,  Tuskegee,  Atlanta,  Fisk,  Calhoun 
and  elsewhere  in  the  south,  and  in 
the  steadily  increasing  number  of 
able  and  trained  leaders  of  the  race, 
and  would  welcome  with  thankful 
heart  those  scholarly  and  enlightened 
white  men  of  southern  birth  who  are 
more  and  more  finding  voice  and 
courage  to  demand  fair  play  and 
equal  opportunity  for  all.  Knowing 
that,  under  our  political  system,  the 
only  hope  of  correcting  existing 
abuses,  lies  in  the  education,  moral 
training  and  material  progress  of  the 
ignorant  and  degraded  masses,  on  the 
one  hand,  and  the  changed  hearts  of 
the  white  leaders  of  the  south,  on 
the  other,  he  would  find  infinite  en 
couragement  alike  in  such  object  les 
sons  as  that  wonderful  procession, 
marshalled  by  Booker  Washington, 
which  passed  before  the  president  at 
Tuskegee  the  other  day,  and  in  the 
triumph  of  freedom  of  speech  and  op 
inion  won  by  the  white  faculty — all 
native  southerners — of  Trinity  college, 
North  Carolina,  a  few  months  ago. 

I  trust  that  the  celebration  of  this 
centennial  anniversary  will  result  not 
merely  in  centering  attention  for  a 
moment  on  the  man  who  was  the 
leader  of  the  anti-slavery  agitation, 
but  that  they  will  turn  many  to  a 
careful  study  of  one  of  the  noblest, 
as  it  was  one  of  the  most  unselfish 
and  far-reaching,  movements  of  any 
time  or  land. 

In  conclusion,  let  me  say  how 
gratefully  the  children  and  grandchil 
dren  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  appre 
ciate  the  honors  that  are  bein.2:  paid 
to  his  memory  today.  In  their  behalf 
I  wish  to  thank  all  who  have  labored 
to  make  the  occasion  significant  and  a 
fresh  inspiration  to  work  for  the 
emancipation  of  the  human  race  from 
every  form  of  injustice  and  oppres 
sion. 

Next  came  two  more  jubilee  songs  by 
Mrs.  McAdoo,  "I'm  Rolling  Through 
an  Unfriendly  World,"  and  "I  Done, 
Done  What  You  Told  Me  To  Do." 

Mr.  Wilson,  in  introducing  the  next 
speaker,  narrated  a  thrilling  experi 
ence  of  a  mother  and  her  little  girl, 
who  were  over  two  years  in  escaping 
from  slavery,  finally  being  smuggled 
to  Boston  on  board  ship,  where  they 
were  met  by  Lewis  Hayden.  This  lit 
tle  woman  was  the  character  Eliza  in 


26 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


Uncle  Tom's  Cabin.  The  little  girl,  he 
said,  is  now  Mrs.  Arianna  Sparrow. 
She  was  applauded  as  she  came  for 
ward  to  speak.  Her  mother  was  the 
late  Mrs.  Cooley. 

Mrs.     Sparrow     said:       My     mother 
was    always    asking    me,    "Don't    you 
want  to  go  to  Boston?  don't  you  want 
to  be  a  nice  lady?  Don't  you  want  to 
be  free?"     I  used  to  say  "I  don't  want 
to  go   away    from    my      playmates;    I 
want  to  stay  with  them."  After  a  while 
she  persuaded  me  to  go,  and  I  remem 
ber   she    made    an   effort.      One    even 
ing  we  started  in  and  I  think  we  must 
have  walked  five  miles  to  Norfolk,  Va., 
where  a  captain  was  to  meet  about  20 
people    and    bring    them    here.      After 
this  long  walk  we  were  disappointed; 
the  man  who  was  to  meet  us  was  not 
there,   and  we  had  to  go  back  again 
into  the  city.    Well,  two  or  three  years 
afterward    she     started      again.      She 
would  keep  saying  to  me  over  and  over 
again,    "you're   going   to    be    free,    re 
member,   you're   going   to   be   tree."    I 
suppose  she  wanted  to  make  me  feel 
satisfied  with   whatever  inconvenience 
she  put  me  to  for  the  sake  of  my  free 
dom.     So  finally,  as  Mr.  Wilson  says, 
we  came  to  Boston  after  a  sail  of  a 
week.    Then  Mr.  Hayden  met  us  at  the 
dock.      I    always    loved    Mr.    Hayden. 
He  took  me  right  up  in  his  arms  and 
never  let     me  out  of  them   until   we 
landed  in  his  doorway.    I  think    it  was 
a  rule  for  every  escaped  slave  to  re 
port  at  the  anti-slavery  office.  In  time 
we  were  taken  down  there  and  there  I 
saw    a   great    many   gentlemen     busy. 
They  crowded  around  us,  as  my  moth 
er   told    her   story.     There   was      one, 
however,    who    didn't    seem   to      take 
much  notice.    I  afterward  learned  that 
that  was  Mr.   Garrison.  Finally  when 
his  attention  was  called  to  us  he  held 
out  his  hand  to  me  and  said,   "Come 
here,    little    girl."      He   put  his   arms 
around  me  and  patted  me  on  the  head, 
and  asked  me  what  I  was  going  to  do 
now  I  was  in  Boston.  "Are  you  going  to 
school?"     I    spoke   right  up  and   said 
"Yes."     Then  he  told  me  he  hoped  I 
would    grow  up    to   be   a   grand    good 
woman.     "Your  mother,"  he  said,  "has 
done  an  honorable  thing  for  you."  Af 
terwards  I  used  to  follow  up  the  anti- 
slavery    meetings.      My    mother    later 
on  became  so  sensitive  that  she  could 
not  go  herself.     She  lost  a  very  dear 
brother    and    sister,    they    being    sold 
away  through  slavery,   and  she  never 


saw  them  again  and  we  have  never 
heard  of  them  since,  and  she  never 
got  over  the  shock  of  losing  them.  So 
I  used  to  go  to  the  meetings  and  bring 
reports  of  the  meetings  home.  Of 
course  I  cannot  say  so  very  much  of 
what  Mr.  Garrison  said,  except  that  I 
knew  we  had  to  sit  a  long  time  to  lis 
ten  when  he  got  upon  the  platform  to 
talk.  I  know  it  was  always  very  sol 
emn;  there  was  never  anything  to 
laugh  at  in  his  speeches.  He  used  to 
impress  us  with  the  direful  wrong  of 
slavery,  and  I  used  to  dread  when  he 
got  up,  for  I  knew  it  was  a  long  time 
we  had  to  sit  there.  I  do  not  know 
that  I  ever  missed  going  to  the  meet 
ings.  When  I  saw  Mr.  Garrison  on  the 
street  I  always  used  to  bow  to  him.  Of 
course  I  don't  think  he  remembered 
me,  but  he  used  to  bow  to  me  and 
pass  on.  I  was  a  member  of  the  anti- 
slavery  society. 

I  used  to  stay  away  from  school  to 
attend  the  meetings.  I  asked  my  moth 
er  for  a  dollar  and  I  joined  the  socie 
ty.  I  think  that  dollar  did  for  all  my 
life  as  long  as  I  was  a  member  of  the 
society.  (Laughter.)  I  used  to  get 
away  from  school  to  attend  the  meet 
ings.  Going  to  the  teacher  I  would  ask 
to  be  excused,  and  she  would  ask  me 
what  for,  and  I  would  say,  "Why  the 
anti-slavery  society  meets  this  af 
ternoon."  "Well,"  she  would  say, 
"what  of  that;  what  have  you  got  to 
do  with  it?"  "Why,"  I  would  say, 
"I've  got  to  be  there.  I've  got  to  go 
with  my  mother.'  I  think  I  saw  Mr. 
Garrison  on  the  night  of  the  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation.  We  were  all  in 
Tremont  Temple.  He  was  a  very  sol 
emn  person. 

Miss  Alia  W.  Foster,  the  daugh 
ter  of  Abby  Kelly  and  Stephen 
Foster,  was  introduced  as  a  school 
teacher  in  Boston  and  an  inti 
mate  friend  of  Mr.  Garrison  and 
his  family.  She  said  in  opening  that 
she  came  primarily  to  try  to  make  the 
audience  realize  that  such  a  man  as 
Mr.  Garrison  really  did  live.  She  said 
her  tribute  was  that  of  his  wonderful 
private  home  life,  as  she  as  a  child 
was  often  in  the  Garrison  home.  They 
lived  in  a  house  in  Dix  place,  in  a  lit 
tle  house,  but  yet  it  was  the  biggest 
house  she  ever  saw,  especially  when 
there  was  a  convention  in  town.  The 
children  seemed  to  disappear  when  the 
anti-slavery  conventions  adjourned  to 
Mr.  Garrison's  house.  She  said  the 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


27 


Garrisons  were  poor  like  all  the  abo 
litionists,  and  turning  to  Mr.  Garrison 
on  the  platform  she  said,  "Weren't 
we  poor,  Mr.  Garrison."  (Laughter.) 
She  said  she  wondered  how  the  family 
got  enough  to  eit,  but  Mrs.  Garrison 
was  a  great  provider,  and  could  make 
her  market  basket  of  food  go  a  long 
ways.  Yet  the  spiritual  hospitality  of 
the  family  was  the  chief  attraction  in 
their  home.  The  talk  was  all  of  the 
abolition  movement,  what  this  mob 
had  done,  and  that  convention  would 
do. 

Mrs.  Garrison  was  as  great  as  Mr. 
Garrison,  said  the  speaker,  and  with 
out  her,  Mr.  Garrison  could  never  have 
done  what  he  did.  She  closed  with  a 
tribute  to  the  Abolitionist  for  his  per 
sonal  aid  to  her  mother  as  a  woman 
rights  woman  and  for  his  work  in  that, 
cause  for  all  women. 

Mr.  John  J.  Smith,  a  man  85  years 
of  age,  ascended  the  altar  amid  ap 
plause  and  spoke  briefly,  saying: 

Mr.  Chairman — I  cannot  express  my 
feelings.  This  place  here  is  sacred.  It 
is  the  only  place  in  early  life  where 
Mr.  Garrison  could  stand  and  that 
they  could  not  break  up  the  meetings 
and  he  could  speak  to  the  people.  No 
mob  ever  entered  into  this  place  to 
take  him  out  or  to  stop  him  from 
speaking.  I  became  acquainted  with 
Mr.  Garrison  in  the  latter  part  of  1840. 
I  desired  to  be  introduced  to  Mr.  Gar 
rison.  Coming  from  the  south  and  be 
ing  a  barber  I  had  heard  Mr.  Garrison 
spoken  of  in  the  barber  shop,  and 
abused,  etc.,  and  I  wanted  to  see  this 
wonderful  man  that  there  was  so 
much  talk  about.  Well,  I  had  been 
born  a  freeman,  and  as  Mrs.  Sparrow 
said,  free  people  did  not  associate  with 
slaves.  They  thought  themselves 
above  them.  The  white  people  had  put 
that  barrier  between  them.  Well,  we 
went  over  to  the  anti-slavery  office. 
Mr.  Garrison  had  in  his  hand  a  "stick" 
with  type  in  it,  and  he  said  to  me, 
"Take  a  seat."  About  the  third  ques 
tion  asked  me  was,  "Was  I  a  slave?" 
"No,"  I  replied,  pretty  promptly,  "but 
I  have  seen  slavery  in  all  its  forms/' 
I  went  to  work  and  commenced  telling 
him  of  all  the  horrors  of  slavery  that 
I  had  seen.  When  I  said,  "Well,  there 
are  some  good  slaveholders."  "No, 
sir,"  he  said,  "there  is  not  one  good 
one;  not  one  of  them."  Then  he  be 
gan  asking  me  questions.  Would  I 
think  a  man  was  good  if  he  sold  my 


father  and  mother  and  they  went 
one  way  and  I  went  another;  would  I 
call  him  a  good  man?  Of  course  I 
had  to  say,  no  sir.  I  was  convicted  at 
the  start.  I  came  out  of  that  office  a 
wiser  man.  I  commenced  following 
the  Liberator.  All  Mr.  Garrison's  fol 
lowers  were  true;  they  would  stand  by 
him  and  would  sacrifice  their  own 
lives  at  any  time  for  Mr.  Garrison.  [ 
will  tell  you  what  I  think  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  and  I  have  been  trying  to  find 
some  one  that  I  can  put  alongside  of 
him.  I  think  Mr.  Garrison  was  the 
greatest  man  that  this  country  ever 
produced.  Why,  show  me  the  man 
that  ever  accomplished  as  much  as 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  did  in  forty 
years?  I  know  of  no  one  greater.  And 
he  built  his  foundation  on  that  dec 
laration  "immediate  and  uncondition 
al  emancipation,"  and  he  stood  on  that 
foundation  until  the  work  was  accom 
plished.  Moses  comes  nearest  to  him. 
Who  else?  None  other.  Mr.  Garri 
son  lived  to  see  the  whole  country 
free.  He  did  a  great  work  for  the  Ne 
gro  of  this  country  when  he  washed 
that  foul  stain  from  the  good  name  of 
Christian  America,  American  slavery, 
when  he  wiped  that  out,  I  say,  he  did 
a  great  work  for  this  nation  and  for 
this  people.  I  tell  you,  my  friends,  I 
feel  proud  to  think  that  I  am  living 
today  to  hear  from  the  son  of  the 
noblest  man  that  this  country  has 
ever  produced,  to  hear  from  him  of  the 
work  of  a  noble  ancestor. 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Smith's  eloquent 
tribute,  which  evoked  much  applause, 
Mr.  Garrison  pointed  to  the  banner  in 
the  rear  and  said  the  motto  thereon, 
"Our  trust  for  victory  is  solely  in 
God.  We  may  be  defeated  but  our 
principles  never,"  was  incorrect  in  that 
the  word  personally  was  left  out  be- 
fore  the  word  defeated.  The  banner 
was  one  that  used  to  hang  in  the  anti- 
slavery  fairs  and  festivals,  and  the 
words  were  from  the  declaration  ot 
sentiment  written  by  Mr.  Garrison  and 
signed  at  Philadelphia  in  the  formation 
of  the  American  Anti-Slavery  Associa 
tion,  December,  1833. 

He  also  spoke  of  the  bust  of  his 
father,  which  Mr.  Thomas  P.  Taylor 
had  kindly  loaned,  saying  it  was  from 
the  last  portrait  made  of  his  father 
and  his  children  think  it  the  very  best 
ever  made  of  him.  It  was  made  by 
Miss  Anne  Whitney,  and  gave  his 
father  great  pleasure  that  a  woman  did 
the  work. 


28 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


After  two  more  jubilee  songs  by  the 
same  two  singers,  "I'm  Gwine  lo 
Sing,"  and  "My  Way's  Cloudy,"  Mrs. 
C.  G.  Morgan  was  introduced. 

Mrs.  Morsan  read  a  beau 
tiful  tribute  to  Mr.  Garrison's  wife, 
after  eulogizing  Mr.  Garrison  as  one 
of  such  largeness  of  soul  that  it  makes 
one  feel  the  story  of  his  life  is  in 
complete  without  the  mention  of  that 
gentle  spirit  whose  soul  also  cast  in 
an  heroic  mould  was  conspici  ous 
among  the  noble  women  of  her  day  in 
the  great  cause  for  which  her  husband 
labored  so  assiduously." 

She    said    further    in    part: 

This  occasion  is  especially  to  honor 
the  Titanic  leader  of  that  movement 
who  was  forcad  to  say  of  himself: 
"It  is  my  lot  to  be  branded  through 
this  country  as  an  agitator,  a  fanatic, 
an  incendiary  and  a  madman.  There 
is  one  epithet,  I  fervently  thank  God 
that  has  never  been  applied  to  me,  I 
have  never  been  stigmatized  as  a 
slaveholder,  or  as  an  apologist  of 
slavery." 

We  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  the 
bigotry  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison 
lay  in  his  righteous  pertinacity  of 
aim  and  purpose,  his  fanaticism  in 
holding  the  abhorrent  sin  of  slavery 
before  the  public  eye  in  season  and 
out  of  season — his  madness  in  the 
steadfast  resolution  to  stand — if  he 
stood  alone — against  the  sin  of  the 
slave  system,  and  if  agitator  he  must 
be  called  it  was  because  he  cried 
out  for  the  only  peace  that  could  en 
dure,  and  the  only  ouiet  that  could 
be  permanent — that  built  upon  the 
recognition  of  the  brotherhood  of  man, 
as  an  incendiary  he  burnt  only  the 
dross,  and  his  infidelity  was  a  devout 
constancy  to  truth. 

And  it  is  a  cheering  sight  to  see 
this  strong  man  at  the  world's 
convention  in  1840  absolutely  refuse 
to  take  his  seat  on  the  floor  of  the 
convention  or  lend  his  voice  in  the 
proceedings  because  his  co-delegates, 
the  women,  were  refused  admission. 

Helen  Eliza  Benson,  the  wife,  was 
born  in  Providence,  lived  in  youth  in 
Brooklyn,  Conn.,  and  had  noble  par 
ents,  her  father  being  an  abolutionist 
She  was  comely,  thoughtful,  courteom 
and  kind,  and  Garrison  fell  in  love 
with  her  at  first  sight.  The  mar 
riage  of  these  two,  ever  faith 
ful  and  loyal  to  each  other,  was 
consummated  in  the  fall  of  1834.  in 
the  midst  of  a  period  when  the  Liber 


,  through  its  forceful  messages  of 
truth  and  freedom,  was  already  reap 
ing  a  harvest  of  abuse,  threatened 
violence,  and  even  assassination  from 
the  South,  and  both  derision  and 
obloquy  from  the  well-dressed  but 
ill-bred  in  the  North.  Leaving  a 
home  of  safety  and  coming  to  one 
wherein  she  and  her  husband  dwelt 
almost  constantly  in  the  shadow  of 
martyrdom  had  no  fears  for  this 
noble  young  woman.  Such  dauntless 
courage  and  such  fidelity  to  the  right 
surely  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  self- 
sacrificing  task  of  William  Lloyd 
Garrison. 

It  may  be  that  Ruskin  is  quite  right 
in  saying  "that  the  buckling  on  of 
the  knight's  armor  by  his  lady's  hand 
was  not  a  mere  caprice  of  romantic 
fashion,  but  rather  the  type  of  eternal 
truth,  and  that  the  soul's  armor  is 
never  well  set-to  unless  a  woman's 
hand  has  braced  it."  Never  was  wo 
man  better  adapted  for  bracing  se 
curely  the  armor  of  a  knight  than 
Helen  Eliza  Garrison,  to  whom  the 
following  tribute  was  paid  by  Wendell 
Phillips,  "Her  own  life  and  her  hus 
band's  moved  hand  in  hand  in  such 
loving  accord  and  seemed  so  exactly 
one,  that  it  was  hard  to  divide  their 
work." 

How  significant  and  yet  how  pa 
thetic  when  the  triumph  came  Mrs. 
Garrison's  bodily  activity  was  over, 
for  she  became  an  invalid  and  remain 
ed  so  until  the  end  of  that  useful  and 
strikingly  beautiful  life. 

At  the  close  of  Mrs.  Morgan's  ad 
dress,  a  collection  was  taken  for  the 
suffering  Jews  in  Russia,  out  of  ap 
preciation  for  the  use  of  the  synagogue 
and  amounted  to  over  $36. 

Perhaps  the  climax  of  the  meeting 
for  pathos  and  vivid  portrayal,  came 
in  the  last  address,  that  of  the  vener 
able  Colored  woman,  Miss  Eliza  Gard 
ner,  who  had  gone  to  school  in  the 
vestry  of  that  very  church  edifice, 
All  eyes  were  moist  as  she  closed, 
breaking  down  under  her  emotion-. 
Miss  Gardner  said  in  part: 

I  feel  too  deeply  moved  by  the  events 
that  occurred  forty  years  ago  to  speak 
as  my  heart  would  dictate.  I  feel  so 
keenly  the  many  things  that  have 
been  said  about  Mr.  Garrison  and  his 
friends  and  the  times  in  which  they 
lived  and  moved.  From  my  earliest 
childhood  I  remember  that  I  had  a 
mother  who  was  interested  in  the  an 
ti-slavery  movement,  and  I  can  re- 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


29 


member  that  when  my  father  got  a 
home  for  wife  and  children  that  in 
that  home  there  was  a  room  for  the 
panting  fugitive  who  would  come  tap 
ping  at  the  door,  sometimes  in  the 
midnight  hour,  seeking  a  refuge.  And 
so  from  a  very  young  child  I  com 
menced  attending  the  anti-slavery 
meetings.  My  mind  goes  back  to  Tre- 
mont  Temple  and  the  meetings  there. 
I  can  hardly  realize  and  these  young 
people  can  hardly  realize  that  in  Bos 
ton,  when  Mr.  Garrison  would  attempt 
to  speak,  he  would  not  be  allowed  to. 
From  the  galleries  the  mob  would 
shout  and  sing,  and  we  always  sat  on 
the  lower  floor,  and  we  had  to  dodge 
the  cushions  and  things  that  woiud 
be  hurled  from  the  galleries.  They 
would  hoot  and  shout,  trying  to  sing 
John  Brown's  Body  is  Marching  On, 
while  the  mob  would  yell,  and  the 
cushions  coming  down,  while  we  had 
to  duck  our  heads  to  keep  them  from 
coming  upon  us.  At  the  Tremont 
Temple  one  morning  I  remember  par 
ticularly,  they  said  for  the  safety  of 
the  building  the  meeting  must  ad- 
jovrn,  and  the  pastor* of  this  church, 
Rev.  Sella  Martin,  stepped  to  the  front 
and  said,  "This  meeting  will  not  close 
but  will  adjourn  to  meet  in  my  church 
the  Joy  Street  Baptist  church  tonight 
That  meeting  adjourned  and  we  met 
here.  I  do  not  know  that  I  was  as 
brave  as  my  own  dear  mother,  but 
so  terrible  were  the  scenes  at  that 
time  that  I  was  afraid  to  stay  in  the 
house,  but  I  was  equally  afraid  to  go 
out  of  the  door  (Laughter.)  I  remem 
ber  sitting  up  in  that  gallery  and 
hearing  the  hooting  mob  on  the  out 
side,  a  mob  that  stretched  from  this 
court  to  Cambridge  street,  waiting  for 
Wendell  Phillips,  and  determined  tint 
somebody  wou:d  be  sacrificed  that 
night.  He  cEme  up  the  aisle  leaning 
on  the  arm  of  Francis  Chapman,  and 
with  him,  I  am  thankfrl  so  say,  were 
seven  or  eight  black  men,  ready  to  do 
or  die.  (Applause.)  John  Brown,  Jr.. 
was  there,  too,  and  standing  on  the 
platform,  he  tcok  out  knives,  pis 
tols,  and  anything  that  would  defend 
and  told  the  congregation  what  to  do. 
We  had  a  glorious  meeting.  The 
speaking  was  almost  divine.  I  kept 
listening,  and  I  said  to  my  mother, 
"We  are  having  a  good  time  in  here, 
but  hear  the  mob  outside."  The  meet 
ing  was  dismissed,  and  they  got  the 
women  and  children  out  through  a 
rear  way  that  the  mob  did  not  know 


about.  There  was  one  man,  John  Mul 
ligan,  who  kept  a  sailor's  boarding 
house,  who  had  slain  his  man  and 
served  his  time  in  defense  of  his 
rights.  When  he  and  his  men  went 
out,  the  mob  said,  "Here  comes  Mulli 
gan,"  and  they  parted  and  let  him  £O 
through. 

As  we  came  out  through  that  rear 
way  onto  Irving  street  and  Russell 
street,  the  crowd  seemed  to  realize 
that  we  were  escaping  them,  and  -they 
surged  down  through  Cambridge 
street.  My  mother  and  I  went  down 
Anderson  street.  The  Phillips  school- 
house  was  just  being  built,  and  the 
stones  and  bricks  were  piled  up  there, 
and  they  did  good  service  that  night. 
And  there  was  bloodshed  that  night, 
for  I  saw  a  man  with  the  blood 
streaming  from  his  face  where  he  had 
been  cut  on  the  forehead.  As  we 
reached  the  house  of  Mr.  John  J.  Smith 
he  opened  his  doors  and  he  allowed  my 
mother  and  myself  to  come  in,  and  we 
remained  there  until  it  was  safe  for 
us  to  pass  out. 

These  scenes  are  fresh  with  me  to 
day.  I  can  scarcely  realize  that  they 
have  passed  away,  perhaps  forever. 
And  sometimes  when  I  read  of  the 
horrible  outrages  perpetrated  upon  my 
race  in  the  southland  now,  I  wonder 
if  they  are  over.  (Here  Miss  Gardner 
sobbed  and  buried  her  face  in  her 
hands,  while  many  others  wept.) 
And  I  can  almost  invoke  Mr.  Garri 
son's  presence  from  the  spirit-land  to 
again  fight  the  battle. 

The  members  of  the  Garrison  fam 
ily  at  the  Synagogue  were:  Mr.  Wm. 
Lloyd  Garrison,  Mrs.  Fanny  Garrison 
Viliard,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Francis  J.  Gar 
rison,  Mrs.  George  T.  Garrison,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Charles  Garrison,  Mr.  and 
Mrs.  W.  L.  Garrison.  Jr.,  Miss  Margaret 
Garrison,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  W.  Gar 
rison,  Mr.  Rhodes  Anthony  Garrison, 
Mr.  Harold  Garrison  Viliard,  Mr.  Os 
wald  Garrison  Viliard,  Master  Wen 
dell  H.  Garrison,  Master  Robert  H. 
Garrison. 

Four  descendants  of  Arnold  Buffum 
were  there  also,  namely  his  grand 
daughter,  Mrs.  Mary  Chace  Tolman  of 
West  Newton,  her  two  sons,  Richard 
and  Edward  Tolman,  and  Mr.  Arthur 
Wyman  of  Valley  Falls,  R.  I.,  another 
great-grandson.  These  four  and  the 
members  of  the  Garrison  family  were 
the  only  descendants  of  the  twelve 
founders  of  the  first  anti-slavery  so 
ciety  who  were  present.  , 


FANEUIL  HALL-  BOSTON 
AMERICA'S  "CRADLE  OF  LIBERTY" 


Exercises  of  Monday,  December  ff, 
1905.     In  Faneuil  Hall 


MORNING  SESSION  10.30  o'clock 


The  fifth  session  of  the  citizens' 
celebration  took  place  Monday  morn 
ing  at  Faneuil  Hall,  and  was  in  charge 
of  the  Women's  clubs  and  the  Vet 
eran's  Associations.  The  session 
was  opened  with  prayer  by  Rev. 
D.  R.  Wallace.  Then  Adjutant  Wal 
ter  J.  Stevens  of  the  Peter  Salem  Gar 
rison  Spanish  War  Veterans,  chairman 
of  the  joint  committee  in  charge  of  the 
session  made  the  introductory  re 
marks.  He  said  it  seemed  particularly 
fitting  to  meet  in  Faneuil  hall.  Those 
who  heard  the  speakers  on  Sunday 
praiise  Mr.  Garrison  must  have  been 
filled  with  conflicting  emotions.  He  said 
that  as  he  sat  in  the  Smith  court  syna 
gogue  he  almost  felt  he  could  hear  the 
howling  of  that  mob,  but  today  in  Fan 
euil  hall  he  felt  in  a  freer  atmosphere. 
He  was  unable,  he  said  to  voice  the 
obligation  owed  to  Mr.  Garrison.  Then 
he  introduced  Miss  Eliza  Gardner  to 
preside. 

Miss  Gardner  said  Ga,rrison  was  one 
of  the  greatest  men  who  ever  lived. 
She  mentioned  men  and  women  who 
aided  Garrison  in  his  work,  and  said 
Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe's  "Battle  Hymn 
of  the  Republic"  meant  more  to  the 
Negro  race  than  even  the  "Star 
Spangled  Banner,"  She  said  the  Col 
ored  folk  themselves  were  among  the 
willing  helpers  of  Garrison,  remarking 
that  many  knew  well  how  Mrs.  Scar 
let's  little  tailor  shop  in  Spring  Lane 
was  a  place  where  aid  could  always 
be  found  when  there  was  a  fugitive  to 
be  cared  for.  Mrs.  Mary  Buchanan, 
whose  family  were  among  the  early 
helpers  of  Garrison,  and  who  herself 
was  associated  in  that  work,  reviewed 
facts  in  the  life  of  the  great  liberator. 


After  this,  the  entire  audience  stood 
while  Miss  Georgietta  Woodest  sang 
"The  Star  Spangled  Banner."  Mrs. 
Wm.  H.  Hamilton  was  the  piano  ac 
companist. 

Miss  Gardner  then  introduced  the 
Chaplain  of  the  State  Senate,  Rev.  E. 
A.  Horton,  who  said  there  was  nothing 
more  touching  than  to  have  one  speak 
in  an  assemblage  like  this  of  the  past, 
and  show  by  the  thrill  of  the  voice 
and  the  moistened  cheek  that  that 
space  of  time  is  all  wiped  out  and  the 
one  she  loved  as  a  leader  seems  to  be 
by  her  side.  That  makes  things  real, 
takes  Garrison  off  the  printed  page 
and  out  of  the  frame  and  gives  him 
10  us  as  a  man  who  lived  and  had  his 
friends  and  knew  the  delights  of  life. 

He  aaid  in  coming  down  Com 
monwealth  avenue  to  the  meeting 
he  had  noticed  that  the  wreath 
placed  on  the  Garrison  statue  had 
been  removed.  A  neighbor  told  him 
that  a  workman  had  taken  it  away. 
I  didn't  go  out  there  in  the  slush  and 
wet  yesterday  to  ha,ve  the  wreath  we 
placed  there  taken  away  in  a  few 
hours  by  a  workman.  Tftat  wreath 
ought  to  go  back  there,  and  it  ought  to 
stay  through  the  day.  Cries  of 
"Shame!  shame"  came  from  different 
parts  of  the  hall,  but  the  speaker  said 
he  did  not  mean  to  start  any  sensation, 
but  merely  to  state  a,  fact;  and  there 
after  he  spoke  of  the  significance  of 
numerous  incidents  in  Garrison's  life. 

"I  wish  to  say  to  my  brethren  of  the 
people  who  have  so  enthusiastically 
remembered  this  anniversary,  one  of 
your  number  said  to  me  yesterday  as 
we  were  mafrching  from  the  Boston 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


Public  library  to  the  statue  on  Com 
monwealth  avenue,  "Well,  thank 
Heaven,  there  is  one  man  at  least  un 
der  whom  we  all  drill  and  train  and 
progress.  By  the  memory  of  Garri 
son  all  factions  are  united  among  the 
Colored  people,  and  it  betokens 
strength  for  your  cause. 

"I  hope  the  time  is  nigh  at  hand 
when  the  principles  expressed  by 
Booker  T.  Washington  and  Prof.  Du- 
bois  will  come  together  and  coalesce 
and  make  one." 

What  a  fearful  price  was  paid  that 
slavery  misht  be  cut  down  and  the 
Union  preserved.  But  it  was  the  Al 
mighty's  penalty  inflicted  for  the 
wrong  done  by  the  American  people. 
Now  I  want  you  of  the  Colored  race 
to  take  this  great  fact  for  encourage 
ment  to  you  and  to  me  and  to  all. 
Why  are  you  crowning  Garrison  today 
with  such  laurels  of  heartfelt  praise? 
Because  he  was  eloquent?  Colonel 
Higginson,  noble  name  of  a  noble 
man,  Higginson  who  led  the  Colored 
troops  at  Wagner,  says,  "I  never  list 
ened  to  Garrison  when  I  thought  he 
was  interesting."  He  claims  that 
Garrison  never  had  oratorical  powers. 
Garrison  conquered  by  a  sceptre  that 
is  grander  than  many  worded  elo 
quence  or  the  logical  sequence  of  ad 
dress.  He  conquered  by  the  ignited 
glowing  :>ower  of  moral  conviction. 

While  Rev.  Horton  was  speaking, 
Mrs.  Julia  Ward  Howe  came  in.  Th<> 
audience  stood  up  and  applauded  vig 
orously  until  she  had  taken  her  seat 
upon  the  platform. 

At  the  close  of  Chaplain  Horton's 
remarks  Principal  Alonzo  Meserve  of 
the  Bowdoin  Grammar  school  was  in 
troduced.  He  spoke  of  his  personal 
recollections  of  Garrison.  He  said  in 
part: 

My  remarks  will  be  mainly  of  a 
reminiscent  character,  a  man's  recol 
lections  of  his  youthful  observations 
of  the  last  decade  of  the  anti-slavery 
agitation.  The  Garrisonians  were  men 
and  women  terribly  in  earnest.  They 
did  not  use  soft  words  to  express 
their  horror  of  slavery,  and  they  were 
not  much  disturbed  at  the  not  always 
choice  epithets  hurled  at  them  in  re 
turn.  One  of  their  common  expres 
sions  was,  "We  must  feel  for  those  in 
bonds  as  bound  with  them."  They 
were  moral  force  incarnate,  the  logi- 
cai  and  lineal  descendants  of  the  Eng 
lish  yeomanry  who,  under  Cromwell, 


threw  down  the  gauntlet  to  the  Stuart 
cavaliers.  I  well  remember  Mr.  Gar 
rison.  He  had  the  head  of  a  philoso 
pher,  bald,  a  kindly  face;  he  wore 
spectacles,  his  rather  slow  movement 
of  speech,  devoid  of  gestures,  some 
what  cold  as  a  speaker,  but  always 
the  center  of  interest,  admiration  and 
love  to  the  poor,  plain,  moral  people 
who  mainly  made  up  his  following.  I 
heard  him  say  one  Sunday  evening  in 
answer  to  a  preceding  speaker  that 
a  man  ought  not  to  tell  ?.  He  to  save 
his  life.  "Let  justice  be  done, 
tnough  the  heavens  fall,"  was  anoth 
er  expression  often  falling  from  the 
lips  of  his  followers.  The  last  time 
I  saw  Mr.  Garrison  he  was  slowly 
walking  up  Cornhill,  wearing  a  very 
long  coat  and  a  soft  gray  hat.  His 
whole  bearing  was  that  of  a  scholarly 
gentleman,  a  benevolent,  dignified 
man. 

Near  the  scene  where  Geo.  Thomp 
son  was  mobbed  at  Abington,  a 
scene  which  made  an  abolitionist  of 
my  father,  is  the  beautiful  Island 
Grove.  For  a  score  of  years  on  the 
anniversary  of  British  West  Indies 
emancipation  immense  gatherings 
came  to  celebrate  the  event.  These 
meetings  were  under  the  direction  of 
the  Mass.  Anti-Slavery  society.  I  have 
seen  and  heard  there  Mr.  Garrison, 
Wendell  Phillips,  Senator  Charles 
Sumner,  Gov.  John  A.  Andrew,  Vice- 
President  Henry  Wilson,  Geo.  Thomp 
son,  Dr.  Lyman  Beecher,  Parker  Pills- 
bury,  Rev.  Samuel  J.  May  and  his 
father,  Henry  C.  Wright,  Charles  L. 
Remond,  Wm.  Wells  Brown,  Abby 
Kelley  Foster,  the  Grimkie  sisters, 
Stephen  S.  Foster  and  many  other 
leading  abolitionists. 

In  closing,  I  will  add  that  on  the 
25th  anniversary  of  the  mobbing  of 
Geo.  Thompson  ten  thousand  people 
gathered  to  give  him  a  hearty  wel 
come  in  the  Island  Grove,  a  half  mile 
from  the  spot  where  he  was  mobbed. 
The  utmost  respect  was  paid  him  and 
he  delivered  one  of  his  masterly  ora 
tions. 

I  am  ready  to  say  that  the  black 
race  is  just  as  potential  a  people  as 
any  other  race  on  this  globe.  I  do 
not  say  that  to  evoke  your  applause; 
I  say  it  because  I  feel  it  down  deep  in 
my  heart,  and  it  is  furthermore 
drubbed  into  my  head  because  I  have 
been  brought  in  contact  with  your 
children,  and  it  has  been  my  privilege 
to  be  a  humble  leader  in  trying  to 
make  them  see  more  of  the  good 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


33 


tilings  in  'this  world  than  their  fath 
ers  saw.  In  1897  there  was  a  class  of 
about  50  graduated  from  my  school. 
The  number  one  scholar  was  a  Col 
ored  girl,  the  number  two  scholar  was 
a  Colored  girl,  the  number  three 
scholar  was  a  Jewish  girl,  and  then 
the  Plymouth  Rock  Yankees  and  the 
Irish  Americans  and  the  Germans 
came  along,  glad  to  be  in  the  proces 
sion  under  that  leadership.  So  I  say 
to  you,  just  try  and  meet  every  oppor 
tunity  you  can  get- in  the  way  of  edu 
cation,  especially  because  in  this 
country  education  is  the  poor  man's 
lever  by  which  he  raises  himself  to 
the  highest  positions  of  honor  and 
trust. 

He  also  exhibited  a  copy  of  The  Lib 
erator,  Garrison's  paper,  of  date  Nov. 
25,  1859.  which  aroused  much  applause. 

While  Mr.  Meserve  was  speaking  the 
pupils  of  his  ninth  grade,  with  a  flag 
at  their  head  entered  the  hall,  escorted 
by  Mrs.  Addie  H.  Jewell  and  marched 
down  the  side  aisle  and  took  seats, 
amid  great  applause. 

Mrs.  Julia  W.  Howe  was  introduced 
and  was  greeted  with  applause  and 
waving  of  handkerchiefs.  She  said  in 
part: 

Miss  President  and  dear  friends:  — 
I  am  here  with  a  word  only,  of  grati 
tude  to  one  of  the  benefactors  of  the 
human  race.  The  colored  people  of 
the  south  were  considered  of  small  ac 
count  in  the  days  when  Mr.  Garrison 
took  up  their  cause.  Their  ancestors 
had  in  the  first  instance  been  stolen 
from  their  own  country,  had  been  sold 
like  merchandise  and  driven  like  cat 
tle.  North  and  south  submitted  to  this 
state  of  things,  although  there  were 
some  who  wished  very  much  that 
things  had  turned  out  otherwise  but 
did  not  see  how  the  matter  was  to  be 
helped.  Then  rose  up  William  Lloyd 
Garrison  in  the  strength  of  his  plain, 
simple  manhood  to  protest  ajgainst 
the  outrage  of  such  treatment  of  hu 
man  beings  made  in  God's  image  for 
all  the  good  things  of  life.  How  brave 
ly  he  stood  against  the  censure  of  so 
ciety,  against  the  threats  and  violence 
of  the  mob. 

Your  race  is  coming  now  to 
have  noble  representatives.  Hampton 
and  Tuskegee  speak  out.  Paul  Dunbar 
and  Prof.  Dubois  (applause)  represent 
you  creditably  in  the  literary  world. 
Harvard  college  honors  your  athletes 
and  applauds  your  writers.  The  word 


has  gone  forth  for  you.  Go  up  higher; 
go  up  higher,  and  the  divine  order  of 
things  is  on  your  side." 

After  Mrs.  Howe  finished  the  school 
children  sang  the  ''Battle  Hymn  of  the 
Republic,"  the  verses  being  sung  as  a 
solo  by  Marie  Scott  and  the  rest 
joining  in  the  chorus.  In  the  chorus 
after  the  last  verse  all  joined,  led  by 
Mrs.  Howe,  who  indicated  the  rhythm 
by  the  waving  of  her  hand. 

The  pupils,  all  the  school  girls,  sang 
"Speed  Our  Republic,"  the  piano  ac 
companiment  being  played  by  Mrs. 
Wm.  H.  Hamilton.  Then  the  entire 
audience  sang  "America,"  led  by  the 
school  children. 

This  ended  the  first  half  of  the  ses 
sion  and  Miss  Gardner  yielded  the 
gavel  to  Adjt.  Isaac  S.  Mullen  of  the 
Robert  A.  Bell  Post  134,  G.  A.  R. 

Mr.  Mullen  quoted  the  poet  Whit- 
tier's  praise  of  ttie  purity  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  life.  He  spoke  of  his  own 
school-days  in  the  basement  of  the 
Smith  court  church.  He  said  the 
memory  of  Garrison  lived,  "not  alone 
in  the  written  history  of  the  conflict 
to  which  he  was  devoted,  but  in  the 
hearts  of  those  millions  who  were 
benefited  by  his  adherence  to  their 
cause.  He  said  the  riots  at  the  North 
were  led  by  the  men  who  profited  by 
the  African  slave  trade,  and  that  free 
dom  in  America  then  applied  only  to 
white  people,  despite  the  heroism  of 
the  Colored  men  on  sea  with  Perry, 
and  on  land  with  Andrew  Jackson, 
but  Garrison  arose  and  by  his  agita. 
tion  brought  universal  freedom, 
though  bitterly  assailed  for  his  views. 
In  closing  he  hoped  that  the  founda 
tion  upon  which  Garrison  built  his 
superstructure,  and  the  benefits  de 
rived  therefrom,  might  always  be 
kept  in  the  memory  of  rising  genera 
tions,  and  the  generations  yet  to 
come,  and  that  the  efforts  now  so 
grandly  made  for  the  observance  of 
this  100th  anniversary  would  not 
gradually  "crumble  into  dust,  and  like 
the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision  leave 
scarce  a  memory  behind,"  but  that  it 
would  continue  as  an  incentive  to  all 
peoples  and  nations  of  the  earth. 

Mr.  Mullen  then  introduced  Mjrs. 
Agnes  Adams,  who  said  in  part: 

It  has  been  just  41  years  since  an 
emancipated  people  stood  upon  the 
threshhold  of  a  new  era,  facing  an  un 
known  and  uncertain  future,  home- 


34 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


less,  penniless  and  nameless.  Then 
it  wast  that  the  women  of  the  race 
said:  "I  will  mother  this  people 
in  every  avenue  of  life."  Although 
two  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  bond 
age  had  outraged  every  feeling  of 
wife  and  motherhood,  had  steeped 
their  lives  for  generations  in  immor 
ality,  yet  she  said,  "I  will  do  my  best." 
I  will  work  in  the  field  all  day  beside 
my  husband  and  will  work  all  night 
that  the  boy  and  girl  may  go  to 
school,  that  the  husband  may  succeed 
in  business,  that  our  little  home  may 
be  paid  for.  The  great  army  of  law 
yers,  teachers,  and  doctors,  and  the 
thousands  of  homes  owned  by  our 
people  go  to  prove  how  well  she  has 
kept  her  bond — of  the  many  struggles 
of  the  mother  to  protect  her  home 
and  her  children  while  the  husband 
was  away;  of  the  struggle  to  keep  up 
and  of  the  anguish  of  the  parents 
when  they  returned  home  to  find  a 
little  pile  of  smouldering  ashes  all 
that  was  left  of  what  was  their  home. 
Now  we  turn  to  a  new  era,  when  a 
new  picture  presents  itself.  Co-oper 
ation  was  now  their  watchword.  And 
so  they  formed  themselves  into  clubs. 
The  women  of  my  race  said  if  it  is 
necessary  for  a  race  that  has  had  two 
thousand  years  the  start  of  us  to  es 
tablish  such  things,  how  much  more 
necessary  that  we  should  do  so.  Our 
first  coming  together  was  held  in  Bos 
ton  in  Berkeley  Temple  eleven  years 
ago,  under  the  Era  club.  They  came 
to  that  convention  from  the  Pacific 
slope,  from  the  Atlantic  and  the  gulf 
states.  They  sat  in  that  convention 
three  days  asking  the  question,  What 
must  we  do?  They  went  forth  from 
that  convention  organizing  clubs 
throughout  the  country  until  we  now 
number  over  one  hundred.  We  have 
not  always  done  our  best.  One  of  our 
great  struggles  has  been  how  to  keep 
our  husbands  and  children  from  being 
infidels.  We  have  not  always 
done  our  best,  but  we  do  hope  to  do 
better  in  the  coming  years.  We  are 
trying  to  teach  our  children  the  im 
portance  of  leading  the  simple  life. 
We  are  trying  to  teach  them  the  val 
ue  of  honest  labor. 

And  we  have  with  us  the  great 
characters  of  the  mother  and  the 
wife  of  Garrison,  who  was  with  him  in 
every  struggle. 

Miss  Denby  sang  "The  Lord  is  My 
Ligiht"  most  beautifully  and  as  an 
encore  "O,  Dry  Those  Tears." 


Mrs.  Mary  Church  Terrell,  introduced 
as  Mrs.  Judge  Terrell  of  Washington, 
D.  C.  said  in  part:  The  honor 
which  you  confer  upon  me  seems  great 
er  than  I  can  bear.  The  facts  associated 
with  Faneuil  hall  are  sacred  to  me.  It 
never  occurred  to  me  I  should  be  able 
to  stand  on  the  platform  of  Faneuil 
hall,  where  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison,  Wen 
dell  Phillips  ajid  those  other  cham 
pions  of  liberty  stood,  where  they 
roused  this  nation  to  the  awfulness 
of  the  crime  of  slavery.  In  spite  of  all 
the  hardships  to  which  we  are  sub 
jected  I  believe  things  will  be  better 
tomorrow,  but  the  love  of  liberty, 
which  prompted  the  Pilgrim  Fathers  to 
forsake  home  and  friends,  I  believe  is 
being  submitted  to  the  children's  chil 
dren  forever. 

I  cannot  help  feeling  that  if  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Wendell 
Phillips  and  those  other  men  could 
come  here  today  they  would  be  dread 
fully  pained  and  shocked  to  find  what 
a  revolution  on  the  race  Question  has 
taken  place  in  the  short  time  of  forty 
years.  But,  my  friends,  though  op 
pression  and  injustice  stalk  about  the 
land,  I  sometimes  think  that  retribu 
tion  may  be  coming  on  apace  with  a 
strong,  avenging  hand. 

Mr.  Mullen  then  read  the  caution 
contained  in  the  souvenir  program, 
saying  we  did  not  have  to  do  that  now. 

He  then  introduced  Mr.  James  H. 
Wolfe,  Commander  of  the  Massachu 
setts  Department  of  the  G.  A.  R. 

Mr.  Wolfe  said  in  part: 

"I  knew  Mr.  Garrison  personally 
and  am  proud  of  the  fact.  Let  us 
draw  what  lesson  we  can  from  his 
great  and  good  life  and  let  us  see  if 
we  have  any  of  the  qualities  that  com 
pose  his  splendid  character.  Let  us 
see  if  be  not  true  that  a  race  lifted 
from  slavery  by  the  work  of  Garri 
son  is  not  forgiLg  ahead  at  a  speed 
worthy  of  him.  It  is  an  important 
fact  that  the  conditions  are  so  chang 
ed  that  the  southern  attack  upon  the 
blacks  is  never  single-handed  but  al 
ways  strong  in  numbers.  Garrison 
rave  us  a  flag  and  a  country  and  it 
behooves  us  to  remember  that  that 
flag  was  fought  for  and  won  by  Neg 
roes.  Never  in  our  country's  history 
has  a  Colored  man  been  a  traitor. 
Race  prejudice  is  rampant  in  certain 
parts  of  our  country  and  sooner  or 
later  we  must  come  to  our  defence. 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


35 


We  are  men  and  can  suffer  for  what 
are  our  rights  and  from  somewhere 
there  will  come  to  us  a  leader.  I 
would  rather  have  the  ballot  than  a 
bank  account,  for  what  good  can 
money  do  me  when  I  can  not  have  a 
hand  in  the  passing  of  my  country's 
laws.  Money  is  powerful  but  the  ex 
ercise  of  franchise  is  far  more  power 
ful.  I  am  hopeful  over  the  revival  of 
oratory  among  us  and  I  believe  that 
the  race  problem  is  simply  a  question 
of  fair  play  for  our  boys  and  girls. 
We  ask  for  opportunity  in  proportion 
to  our  merit.  I  am  glad  to  pay  tribute 
to  the  great  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison, 
whose  work  cannot  be  depreciated  and 
my  earnest  hope  is  that  we  may  ef 
fectually  finish  the  fight  he  so  success 
fully  made  for  us." 

Motion  was  then  maide  by  Mr.  J.  A. 
Crawford  that  a  committee  of  five  be 
appointed  from  this  meeting  to  go  with 
a  committee  from  the  Boston  Suffrage 
League  to  go  to  the  office  of  the  Mayor 
to  have  the  wreath  replaced  on  the 
Garrison  statue.  Adjt.  W.  J.  Stevens, 
Mr.  John  J.  Smith,  C.  G.  Morgan,  Esq., 
W.  M.  Trotter,  J.  A.  Crawford,  T.  P. 
Taylor,  Milton  Walker  and  Rev.  Wm. 
H.  Scott  were  appointed. 

Chairman  Mullen  read  verses  from 
page  10  of  the  Souvenir  Program  and 


then  announced  a  solo  by  Miss  Rosa 
M.  Cuffee. 

This  session  closed  with  benediction 
by  Rev.  F.  G.  Snelson,  pastor  of  the 
St.  Paul  Baptist  church,  Cambridge. 

Faneuil  hall  was  beautifully  dec 
orated  with  flags  and  bunting  by  the 
New  England  Decorating  company. 
Upon  a  platform  in  front  of  the  desk 
was  a  large  life-size  crayon  portrait 
of  Mr.  Garrison,  draped,  which  was 
loaned  by  Mr.  Francis  J.  Garrison, 
and  on  one  side  of  the  platform  was  a 
bust  of  the  emancipator,  which  Mr. 
T.  P.  Taylor  loaned  for  the  occasion. 

The  committee  in  charge  of  this  ses 
sion  were: — Adjt.  Walter  J.  Stevens, 
chairman,  Miss  Josephine  B.  Selden, 
secretary;  Mrs.  Addie  H.  Jewell,  Mrs. 
Olivia  Bush,  Mrs.  R.  C.  Ransom,  Mrs. 
iSmith,  Commander  A.  Ditmus,  Mrs. 
Jewell,  Mrs.  E.  M.  Gotten,  Mrs.  Hard 
ing,  Mrs.  E.  Allston,  Mrs.  Williams, 
Mrs.  Hall,  Mrs.  Hannah  Smith,  Mrs. 
George  Lewis,  Mrs.  C.  E.  France,  re 
presenting  the  following  clubs  and 
organizations:  John  Brown  Memorial, 
Protective  League,  King's  Daughters, 
Queen  E'sther,  Women's  Era,  Ruth  Cir 
cle,  Maternal  Association,  Queen  Es 
ther's  Court,  Lily  of  the  Valley  Mis 
sion,  Foreign  Missions,  G.  A.  R.,  Shaw 
Veteran  Association,  Peter  Salem  Gar 
rison  and  Household  of  Ruth. 


AFTERNOON  SESSION,  3  O'CLOCK 


The  sixth  session  of  the  Citizens' 
celebration  began  at  3  o'clock  on  Mon 
day  at  Faneuil  hall.  The  hall  was 
well  filled.  Upon  the  platform  were: 
Mr.  John  J.  Smith,  Mrs.  Betsey  Blake- 
ley  Hudson,  known  as  "Mr.  Garrison's 
gift,"  escaped  fugitive  slave,  who 
was  brought  from  the  wharf  to  an  an 
ti-slavery  meeting  in  Faneuil  hall, 
then  called  Betsey  Blakeley;  Rev.  J.  H. 
Wiley,  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison,  Mrs.  Fan 
ny  Garrison  Villard  of  New  York, 
daughter  of  Garrison;  O.  G.  Villard  of 
New  York,  editor  of  New  York  Even 
ing  Post,  grandson  of  Garrison;  Capt. 
Charles  L.  Mitchell,  Hon.  Moor.ield 
Storey,  Hon.  A.  E.  Pillsbury,  Mr.  J. 
Nathaniel  Butler,  Miss  Alia  W.  Foster, 
daughter  of  Abbey  Kelley  Foster  and 
Stephen  Foster;  Hon.  A.  A.  Perry, 
Miss  Pauline  Hopkins,  Frank  Sanborn, 
Mr.  A.  M.  Howe,  Rev.  A.  A.  Berle, 
Rabbi  Chas.  Fleischer,  Rev.  Byron 
Gunner,  Prof.  Albert  B.  Hart,  John  D. 
Long,  trustee  of  Zion  A.  M.  E.  Zion 
church,  E.  H.  Clement,  editor  of  Tran 
script;  John  W.  Hutchinson,  Walter 
Allen,  editor  of  The  Herald;  Emory  T. 
Morris,  C.  G.  Morgan,  Miss  Alice 
Stone  Blackwell,  Mrs.  Lucia  Ame> 
Mead,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Scott,  president  of 
Boston  Suffrage  league;  John  W. 
Smith,  an  old  anti-slavery  printer, 
Joshua  A.  Crawford,  Walter  Thomas, 
T.  P.  Taylor,  W.  M.  Trotter,  secretary 
Garrison  Centenary  committee;  James 
A.  Lew,  Horace  Gray,  Pierre  Zeno, 
commander  of  Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison  G. 
A.  R.  post  of  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  Rev.  F. 
G.  Snelson,  Homer  B.  Sprague,  Edwin 
D.  Mead,  Rev.  Chas.  Ames,  Rebecca 
T.  Collins,  who  knew  Garrison;  Geo. 
G.  Bradford,  Geo.  R.  Tabers,  G.  W. 
Fowle,  who  was  in  mob  with  Garrison, 
Rev.  Jesse  Harrell. 

The  invocation  was  given  by  Rev.  S. 
J.  Comfort,  Rev.  Jesse  Harrell  not  ar 
riving  till  later.  Mr.  Mark  R.  DeMor- 
tie,  chairman  of  the  Citizens'  commi*- 
tee,  presided.  The  Crescent  Male 
quartet  sang  very  acceptably  "The 
Voice  of  Peace." 

Secretary  William  M.  Trotter  of  the 
Suffrage  league  committee,  read  letters 
of  regret  from  William  H.  Dupree, 


Rev.    Francis   H.   Rowley,   N.    P.    Hal- 
lowell  and  ex-Gov.  J.   Q.   A.   Brackett 

Mr.  Mark  R.  DeMortie  spoke  in  part 
as  follows: 

The  hero  of  whom  we  shall  speak 
was  born  at  Newburyport  in  this  state 
one  hundred  years  ago.  At  his  birth 
place  he  was  surrounded  by  such  elo 
quent  and  influential  men  as  Caleb 
Gushing,  W.  D.  Northen  and  Richard 
S.  Spofford,  the  husband  of  Harriet 
Spofford,  the  authoress,  all  of  them  ad 
vocating  the  cause  and  justness  of 
slavery. 

He  gathered  his  little  company,  and 
they  met  in  the  African  Baptist 
church.  Smith  court.  Joy  street,  and 
formed  the  New  England  Anti-Slavery 
society  and  declared  for  immediate 
emancipation.  When  they  adjourned 
and  stepped  out  in  the  storm  and  dark 
ness  from  the  meeting  he  remarked, 
"our  numbers  are  few  and  our  influ 
ence  limited  but  mark  my  prediction, 
Faneuil  Hall  shall  ere  long  echo  with 
the  principles  we  have  set  forth.  We 
shall  shake  the  nation  by  their  mighty 
power." 

We  that  are  alive  today  have  lived 
to  see  his  prediction  verified.  His 
words  and  labors  not  only  abolished 
slavery  in  the  United  States  but  in 
the  West  Indies  and  serfdom  in  Rus 
sia.  It  was  only  three  years  after  the 
issue  of  this  little  sheet  (holds  up  Lib 
erator)  that  slavery  was  abolished  in 
the  West  Indies;  you  will  not  find  in 
the  history  of  the  world  where  so 
much  was  accomplished  in  so  short  a 
time.  (Applause.)  When  you  will  stop 
to  consider  that  slavery  was  only  abol 
ished  in  our  neighboring  state,  New 
York,  in  1827,  what  a  great  work  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison  and  his  apostolic 
brothers  and  sisters  accomplished  rn 
so  short  a  period.  God  bless  them  all. 
I  must  enumerate  some  of  their  names. 
I  do  not  want  those  that  do  not  read 
history  to  forget,  among  their  number 
was  Arthur  and  Lewis  Tappen,  the 
I  ovejoy  brothers,  Maria  and  Mary 
Chapmans,  Oliver  Johnson,  Frances 
Jackson,  Samuel  and  Samuel  J.  May, 
the  Hutchinson  family,  Lucy  Stone, 
Frederick  Douglass,  Frank  Sanborn. 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


37 


Abby  Kelley,  Charles  C.  Burleigh, 
Charles  Lenox  Remond,  Dr.  Samuel 
G.  Howe,  Julia  Ward  Howe,  William 
C.  Nell,  last  to  name  among  others  is 
Parker  Pillsbury  and  Wendell  Phil 
lips,  but  they  were  the  peers  of  them 
all. 

Where  shall  we  look  today  for  the 
man  that  will  espouse  the  wrongs  of 
my  race;  we  are  outraged  and  by  men 
in  the  South  today,  because  we  went 
200,000  strong  to  help  save  the  nation 
from  rebeldom.  (Applause.)  I  had 
hoped  for  a  Moody  before  the  admin 
istration  found  him  big  enough  for  a 
cabinet  office.  Let  us  continue  to  hope 
and  hope  on  trusting  to  God  to  right 
our  wrongs. 

It  is  not  my  duty  to  speak  but  to  in 
troduce  those  that  may  address  you. 
The  committee  has  seen  fit  and  proper 
to  select  me  for  that  duty  as  I  pre 
sided  at  the  emancipation  meeting  that 
was  held  January  the  first,  1863,  in 
Tremont  Temple  at  which  the  work  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  consum 
mated. 

Rev.  Charles  G.  Ames,  was  the  first 
speaker.  He  spoke  extemporaneously 
and  gave  very  sober  advice  saying  in 
part:  "When  we  turned  free  4,000,000 
ex-slaves  it  was  a  good  deal  like  shak 
ing  out  a  ragbag.  They  have  been 
climbing  every  day,  and  they  still  have 
a  great  deal  of  progress  to  make. 
There  is  still  a  battle  to  be  w;aged 
against  the  same  spirit  which  made 
slavery  possible.  You  will  get  your 
dues  not  by  appealing  to  white  men 
to  help  you,  but  by  helping  your 
selves.  You  have  got  to  become  self- 
reliant  and  self-respecting,  and  only 
this  kind  of  appeal  will  win." 

Mr.  B.  R.  Wilson  yielded  his  place  on 
the  program  to  Mrs.  Fanny  Garrison 
Villard,  who  received  an  ovation.  She 
said:  "I  know  that  what  my  dear 
father  did  for  the  Colored  race,  all  he 
sacrificed,  he  has  got  back.  He  had 
a  moral  uplift  and  high  associates,  and 
I  feel  that  he  more  than  got  it  back 
from  you  by  your  sincere  affection." 
(Great  applause). 

Rabbi  Charles  Fleischer  followed.  In 
the  course  of  his  address  he  said: 

"In  participating  in  this  centenary 
celebration  of  a  man  whom  we  all  de 
light  to  honor,  let  me  speak  to  a  text 
furnished  by  Garrison  himself:  'I 
claim  to  be  a  human  rights  man.'  That 
was  a  sentiment  to  be  expected  from 


the  universalistic  seer,  who,  in  frenzy 
exclaimed:  'My  country  is  the  world; 
my  countrymen  are  all  mankind.' 

"After  all,  a  specific  wrong  or  injus 
tice  is  only  a  local  or  a  particular 
phase  of  general  wrong  or  injustice. 
It  means  a  falling  short  of  ideal  stand 
ards.  Slavery  in  the  United  States, 
oppression  of  Armenians  in  Turkey, 
persecution  of  Jews  in  Russia — these 
are  all  poison,  fruits  of  the  same 
deadly  tree.  They  all  tell  the  same 
sad  story  of  the  survival  of  beastli 
ness  in  man,  none  the  less  beastly 
when  it  expresses  itself  in  the  con 
tempt  of  refined  and  'superior'  folks 
for  those  whom  they  think  or  who  ac 
tually  may  be  inferior. 

"Real  superiority  proves  itself  not 
in  hatred  and  contempt,  in  an  ever- 
widening  spiral  of  sympathy  and  love. 
The  more  one  can  include  the  more 
human  one  is.  The  grown-up  man 
says  naturally:  'I  think  nothing  hu 
man  foreign  to  me.  Even  the  rights 
of  Russia  are  dear  to  me,  whose  fel 
low  Jews  are  being  treated  atrociously 
by  other  Russians." 

"Fortunately,  we  may  claim  today 
that  the  sort  of  man  typified  in  the 
fine  figure  of  Garrison,  the  Human 
Rights  Man,  is  not  so  rare  in  our  days 
as  he  was  in  those  days." 

Moorfield  Storey,  president  of  the 
Anti-Imperialist  League,  who  was  pri 
vate  secretary  to  Charles  Sumner,  said 
in  part: 

"This  celebration  comes  at  a  fortu 
nate  hour.  We  are  passing  through  a 
reaction  against  the  great  principles 
of  freedom  and  equal  rights  to  advance 
which  Mr.  Garrison  devoted  his  life, 
and  we  need  assured  faith.  We  need 
to  be  reminded  how  much  can  be  ac 
complished  in  a  good  cause  by  cour 
age,  persistence  and  unwavering  de 
votion  against  odds  which  seem  to  be 
overwhelming — how'  certain  is  the  tri 
umph  of  right. 

"Yet  with  no  arms  but  his  pen  and 
his  voice,  with  no  funds  and  without  a 
single  subscriber  to  support  his  news 
paper,  Garrison  attacked  the  mon 
strous  wrong,  and  for  a  generation 
urged  unrelenting  war  against  it. 
Poverty  and  hardship,  abuse,  execra 
tion  and  contempt,  the  jail,  the  mob, 
and  the  danger  of  violent  death,  nev 
er  appalled  him  nor  turned  him  from 
his  purpose. 

"It  is  altogether  fitting  that  we 
should  honor  a  man  of  this  rare  mold. 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


He  deserves  all  the  honor  we  can  pay 
him,  but  it  is  not  by  eulogies  or  meet 
ings  or  statues  that  we  honor  him  best, 
but  by  following  his  example  and 
showing  something  at  least  of  his 
constancy  and  courage. 

"The  equal  rights  of  men,  which, 
when  he  died  seemed  assured  in  this 
country,  are  again  questioned.  In 
many  states  American  citizens  are  de 
nied  the  right  to  vote  on  account  of 
their  color.  There  and  elsewhere  they 
are  exposed  to  lawless  violence,  are 
subjected  to  cruel  punishments  with 
out  trial,  are  visited  with  social  in 
dignities,  are  denied  the  equal  oppor 
tunity  which  is  the  birthright  of  every 
man,  are  taunted  with  inferiority, 
while  many  insist  that  they  are  and  of 
right  must  be  forced  to  remain  hewers 
of  wood  and  drawers  of  water,  incap 
able  of  higher  things.  Let  us  learn 
from  the  example  of  Garrison  to  resist 
with  all  our  might  and  with  untiring 
persistence  the  ignorant  and  un-Chris- 
tian  prejudice  which  is  responsible  for 
those  wrongs. 

"Our  task  compared  with  Garrison's 
is  easy.  We  have  seen  slavery  over 
thrown.  We  have  learned  that  all  the 
strong  forces  once  enlisted  in  its  sup 
port  were  unable  to  keep  4,000,000  of 
men  as  slaves.  Can  we  believe  for  a 
moment  that  any  force  can  keep  10,- 
000,000  of  free  men  down  in  a  country 
where  everything  that  they  can  see 
and  everything  that  they  can  hear 
strengthens  the  impulse  to  rise,  which 
is  planted  in  the  breast  of  every  hu 
man  being  at  his  birth?  Let  us  per 
severe  in  the  path  which  Garrison 
opened  for  us  until  every  man  in  this 
great  country,  the  world,  has  an  equal 
opportunity  to  be  and  to  do  whatever 
his  powers  permit,  unfettered  by  law 
and  unhampered  by  prejudice,  look 
ing  forward  to  the  day  when  mankind 
shall  rise  to  his  high  plane,  and  we 
shall  all  say  with  him:  'My  country  is 
the  world.  My  countrymen  are  all 
mankind.'  "  (Applause.) 

Hon.  A.  E.  Pillsbury,  ex-attorney- 
general  of  this  state,  spoke  as  fol 
lows: 

Fellow  Citizens:  I  dislike  to  make 
any  allusion  to  race  distinctions, 
which  I  would  ignore  and  forget  if 
I  could,  but  where  are  the  white  men 
who  ought  to  fill  this  hall  today? 
Does  not  the  memory  of  Garrison  be 
long  also  to  them?  Do  they  not- 
know  that  the  emancipation  for  which 


he  gave  his  life  was  more  theirs  than 
yours?  Where  is  that  fellow  citizen 
of  ours  who  may  be  described  as  the 
white  American?  Has  he  forgotten 
the  way  to  Faneuil  Hall?  There  was 
a  time  when  he  knew  it.  I  came  down 
here  last  Saturday  evening  to  help 
save  the  old  frigate  Constitution,  and 
I  found  the  hall  filled,  and  the  plat 
form  covered,  with  Irishmen.  (Laugh 
ter.)  Coming  here  today  to  celebrate 
Garrison,  I  find  the  occasion  wholly 
in  the  hands  of  another  class  of  our 
fellow  citizens,  who,  to  say  the  least, 
would  have  great  difficulty  in  tracing 
their  descent  from  the  Pilgrim  or  the 
Puritan.  (Laughter.)  Does  not  the 
white  man  know  that  any  question 
of  liberty  is  his  question?  Does  he 
not  know  that  a  question  of  equal 
rights  is  more  his  question  than 
yours,  in  the  proportion  of  nine  or 
ten  to  one?  Does  he  not  know  that 
his  rights  are  not  safe  so  long  as 
yours  are  not  secure? 

But  this  is  not  what  I  came  here  to 
say.  I  wish  to  make  today,  if  I  can,  a 
practical  application  of  Garrison's  ex 
ample. 

Garrison  was  the  great  agitator.  The 
bronze  figure  down  yonder  in  Com 
monwealth  avenue  is  a  monument  to 
the  power  of  agitation,  the  marshalling 
of  the  conscience  of  the  country  to 
mould  its  laws,  as  Peel  called  it.  It  is 
sometimes  said  by  historians  and  oth 
ers  who  know  no  better  that  the  aboli 
tionists  contributed  but  little  to  the 
downfall  of  slavery.  But  Garrison  had 
at  work,  long  before  the  slave  power 
made  the  fatal  mistake  of  firing  the 
shot  against  Sumter,  the  forces  which 
were  to  destroy  slavery.  He  saw  its 
weakest  point,  and  he  drove  straight 
at  it.  The  slave  power  always  laughed 
at  the  political  and  economic  argu 
ments  against  it.  Calhoun  the  ablest 
defender  of  the  system,  was  acute 
enough  to  see  that  slavery  could  sur 
vive  only  upon  the  ground  that  it  was 
right.  Garrison  put  aside  all  questions 
of  policy  or  expediency,  and  demanded 
immediate  and  unconditional  emanci 
pation  because  slavery  was  wrong. 
Then  the  slave  power  knew  that  he  had 
pierced  the  joint  in  its  armor.  The  re 
coil  from  Garrison's  blow,  the  blind 
and  furious  rage  in  which  the  whole 
slavocracy  rose  up  to  demand  his  sup 
pression  and  to  put  a  price  upon  his 
life,  was  proof  enough  that  the  blow 
had  gone  home  to  the  vital  part. 

Garrison    lived   to   see   the   constitu- 


BIR1H    OF  WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


39 


tional  amendments  wipe  out  slavery, 
raise  the  black  man  to  the  level  of  citi 
zenship,  and  clothe  him  with  its 
rights  and  privileges.  Now,  within 
less  than  thirty  years  from  his  death, 
the  clouds  have  gathered  over  the 
enfranchised  race,  and  there  is  today 
a  call  for  a  new  prophet  of  freedom. 
The  white  south  refuses  to  accept  the 
Negro  as  a  man  and  a  citizen.  It  is 
nothing  that  he  poured  out  his  own 
blood  in  a  hundred  battles  for  the  gov 
ernment  which  now  turns  its  back  up 
on  him.  All  that  is  forgotten.  The 
moral  wave  that  culminated  with  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  and  th? 
13th  Amendment  has  subsided. 

The  public  conscience  is  asleep. 
The  country  looks  on  with  indifference 
while  the  Negro  is  stripped  not  merely 
of  his  right  to  vote  but  of  his  right 
to  live  as  a  free  man  and  citizen.  He 
must  live  by  the  labor  of  his  hands, 
and  the  ballot  is  the  only  weapon  by 
which  he  can  defend  his  right  to 
v  ork  on  equal  terms  with  others  who 
have  it.  (Applause.)  Take  it  away 
and  you  leave  him  a  slave  in  fact,  if 
not  in  law.  By  this  process  the  black 
man  is  being  remanded  to  servitude, 
and  the  white  man  as  well,  for  when 
the  thing  is  done  it  puts  the  whole 
country  under  political  subjection  to 
the  law-defying  states.  (Applause.) 
The  courts  evade  the  question,  con 
gress  finds  no  politics  in  it,  trade,  self 
ish  and  mercenary  now  as  it  always  is, 
encourages  it.  and  the  law  of  the  land 
is  set  aside,  by  force  or  by  fraud,  for 
one-ninth  of  all  the  citizens  of  the 
United  States. 

The  work  that  Garrison  began  is 
not  yet  done.  (Applause.)  It  must 
be  done  by  agitation,  with  fire  kindled 
at  the  same  altar.  (Applause.)  It 
must  be  done  bv  the  black  man  him 
self.  (Applause.)  "Who  would  be  free, 
themselves  must  strike  the  blow."  In 
Garrison's  time  the  Negro  was  prop 
erty,  without  even  a  tongue  of  his 
own.  Now  he  is  at  least  a  man,  whose 
right  to  speak  for  himself  cannot  be 
denied  or  suppressed.  When  Garrison 
began,  he  had  to  begin  by  unmaking 
the  whole  public  opinion  of  the  time, 
and  the  whole  bodv  of  laws.  Now  the 
law  is  with  the  persecuted  race,  and 
it  needs  only  public  opinion  to  en 
force  it.  Create  this  public  opinion 
and  every  politician  will  bow  to  it 
like  a  reed  in  the  wind. 

If  the  white  race  has  for  the  time 
abandoned  the  Negro  to  his  fate,  let 


him  take  his  own  cause  into  his  own 
hands.  They  are  equal  to  it.  I  have 
read  within  a  few  days  a  pamphlet 
on  this  subject,  produced  wholly  by 
Colored  men,  in  which  there  is  more 
logic,  more  philosophy  and  more 
statesmanship  than  the  white  race, 
north  or  south,  has  developed  since 
the  unconstitutional  amendments.  You 
have  no  need  to  look  abroad  for  lead 
ers.  If  the  Colored  race  will  stand  to 
gether,  sinking  all  jealousies  and  dif 
ferences  in  a  resolute  and  unceasing 
demand  for  the  impartial  enforcement 
of  the  laws,  giving  the  country  no  rest 
until  there  is  one  rule  alike  for  white 
and  black  over  every  foot  of  soil, 
there  can  be  no  doubt  of  the  result. 
(Applause.)  It  is  only  a  question  of 
courage  and  endurance.  If  the  demand 
is  irrepressible,  it  will  prove  to  be  ir 
resistible.  (Applause.)  The  people 
have  never  failed,  in  the  end,  when 
appealed  to  on  a  question  of  funda 
mental  right.  The  universal  instinct 
of  freedom  will  respond  to  the  appeal. 
The  whole  history  of  mankind  is  the 
history  of  a  struggle  for  freedom,  in 
which  there  is  no  backward  step.  All 
the  moral  forces  of  the  universe,  the 
very  stars  in  their  courses,  fight  on 
the  side  of  a  race  striving  after  its 
own  liberty.  In  that  cause  there  may 
be  delay  and  discouragement,  but  there 
is  no  defeat.  (Applause.) 

Miss  Pauline  E.  Hopkins  spoke  in 
part  as  follows: 

I  count  it  this  afternoon,  the 
greatest  honor  that  will  ever 
come  to  me  that  I  am  permitted  to 
stand  in  this  historic  hall  and  say  one 
word  for  the  liberties  of  my  race.  I 
thought  to  myself  how  dare  I,  a  weak 
woman,  humble  in  comparison  with 
other  people.  Yesterday  I  sat  in  the 
old  Joy  street  church  and  you  can 
imagine  my  emotions  as  I  remem 
bered  my  great  grandfather  begged 
in  England  the  money  that  helped  the 
Negro  cause,  that  my  grandfather  on 
my  father's  side,  signed  the  papers 
with  Garrison  at  Philadelphia.  I  re 
membered  that  at  Bunker  Hill  my  an 
cestors  on  my  maternal  side  poured 
out  their  blood.  I  am  a  daughter  of 
the  Revolution,  you  do  not  acknowl- 
eds-e  black  daughters  of  the  Revolu 
tion,  but  we  are  going  to  take  that 
right. 

The  conditions  which  gave  birth  to 
so  remarkable  a  reformer  and  patriot 
were  peculiar.  The  entire  American 
republic  had  set  itself  to  do  evil,  and 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


its  leading  forces,  wealth,  religion  and 
party,  joined  the  popular  side  and 
threatened  the  death  of  Liberty  in  the 
Republic.  But  the  darkest  hour  was 
but  a  herald  of  the  dawn.  No  great 
reform  was  ever  projected  or  patron 
ized  by  any  powerful  organization  or 
influential  individual  at  the  outset. 
Reformation  always  begins  in  the 
heart  of  a  solitary  individual;  some 
humble  man  or  woman  unknown  to 
fame  is  lifted  up  to  the  level  of  the 
Almighty's  heartbeats  where  is  un 
folded  to  him  what  presently  must  be 
done.  Thus  it  was  that  after  the  im 
position  of  the  colonization  scheme, 
the  issuing  of  Walker's  "Appeal,"  and 
his  own  imprisonment  at  Baltimore, 
the  poor  and  obscure  Newburyport 
printer's  boy,  without  reputation,  so 
cial  or  political  influence,  or  money, 
inaugurated  the  greatest  reform  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  and  within  one 
year  of  the  first  issue  of  the  "Libera 
tor,"  the  entire  country  knew  the 
name  of  Garrison.  God  had  heard  the 
prayers  of  suffering  humanity.  He 
said  "enough."  The  hour  struck  on 
the  horologe  of  Eternity,  and  the  man 
was  there.  Side  by  side  with  Martin 
Luther's  "Here  I  take  my  stand,"  is 
the  "I  will  be  heard"  of  William  Lloyd 
Garrison.  (Applause.) 

In  September,  1834,  we  are  told  that 
the  Reformer  received  the  greatest  in 
dividual  help  that  ever  came  to  him 
during  his  life,  when  he  married  Miss 
Eliza  Benson,  daughter  of  a  venerable 
philanthropist  of  Rhode  Island,  and 
thereafter  woman's  subtle,  intuitive  in- 
Etinct  added  another  sense  to  the  won 
derful  powers  of  this  remarkable  man. 
Very  shortly  after  their  marriage,  thi.i 
bnue  woman  was  called  to  view  the 
mobbing  of  her  husband  by  the  Bos 
ton  "Broadcloth  Mob."  She  stepped 
fron  a  window  rpon  a  shed  at  the 
moment  of  his  extremest  danger,  be 
ing  herself  in  danger  from  the  riot 
ers.  His  hat  was  lost,  and  brickbats 
were  rained  upon  his  head,  while  he 
was  hustled  along  in  the  direction  of 
the  tar-kettle  in  the  next  street.  The 
only  words  that  escaped  from  the 
white  lips  of  the  young  wife  were: 
"I  think  my  husband  will  not  deny  his 
principles;  I  am  sure  my  husband  will 
never  deny  his  principles."  The  same 
spirit  of  encouragement  still  exists 
in  women.  What  dangers  will  not  a 
woman  dare  for  the  support  and  com 
fort  of  husband,  father  or  brother? 
Not  so  long  ago,  when  a  Boston  young 
man  of  color  was  hustled  and  beaten 


nnd  jailed  for  upholding  free  speech 
and  independent  thought,  he  was  sus 
tained  and  comforted  by  the  words  of 
a  sister:  "Remember,  this  is  not  dis 
grace,  but  honor.  It  is  for  principle- 
it  is  for  principle." 

Mr.  Garrison  went  about  his  work 
against  slavery  with  tremendous  moral 
earnestness.  At  first  he  advocated 
gradual  emancipation,  but  after  his 
baptism  of  injustice  in  a  Baltimore  jail 
his  sentiments  changed  to  the  start 
ling  doctrine  of  immediate  and  uncon 
ditional  emancipation.  Gradual  eman 
cipation  was  a  popular  and  inoffensive 
doctrine,  a  safe  shore  from  which  to 
view  freedom  for  the  Blacks.  It  is 
analogous  with  the  startling  propa 
ganda  of  disfranchisement,  or  gradual 
enfranchisement  after  the  Afro-Ameri 
can  has  proved  himself  fit  for  the  bal 
lot.  \Ve  remember  that  history  re 
cords  the  broken  promises  of  freedom 
given  by  the  Southern  States  to  the 
blacks  of  Southern  regiments  in  the 
Revolutionary  War.  Those  men  earn 
ed  their  freedom,  proved  their  right  to 
manhood,  but  at  the  close  of  the  war 
were  told  that,  "You  have  done  well, 
boys,  now  get  home  to  your  masters." 
The  time  will  never  come  for  the  en 
franchisement  of  the  black  if  he  de 
pends  upon  an  acknowledgement  from 
the  south  of  his  worthiness  for  the 
ballot.  (Applause.)  As  if  the  faithful 
ness  of  the  black  man  to  this  govern 
ment  from  the  Revolution  until  this 
day,  the  blood  freely  shed  to  sustain 
Republican  principles  in  every  war 
waged  against  the  Republic,  the  gen 
tle,  patient  docility  with  which  we 
have  borne  every  wrong,  were  not 
proof  of  our  fitness  to  enjoy  what  in 
right.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Garrison  lived  to  see  his  cause 
triumph  in  the  emancipation  of  the 
slave,  and  died  believing  that  the  man 
hood  rights  of  every  citizen  of  the 
United  States  were  secured  then  and 
forever.  But  the  rise  of  a  younger 
generation,  the  influence  of  an  uncon- 
quered  south,  and  the  acquiescence  of 
an  ease-loving  north  that  winks  at 
abuses  where  commercial  relations  and 
manufactures  flourish  and  put  money 
in  the  purse,  have  neutralized  the  ef 
fects  of  the  stern  policy  of  these  giants 
of  an  earlier  age. 

Great  indeed  was  the  battle  for  the 
abolition  of  slavery,  but  greater  far 
will  be  the  battle  for  manhood  rights. 

Let  us  hope  that  this  timely  re 
view  of  the  noble  words  and  deeds  of 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


Garrison  and  his  followers,  may  re 
kindle  within  our  breasts  the  love  of 
liberty.  Were  Mr.  Garrison  living  in 
this  materialistic  age,  when  the  price 
of  manhood  is  a  good  dinner,  a  fine 
position,  a  smile  of  approval  and  a 
pat  on  the  back  from  the  man  of  in 
fluence,  of  a  fat  endowment,  again, 
would  he  cry  aloud,  "The  apathy  of  the 
people  is  enough  to  make  every  statue 
leap  from  its  pedestal,  and  to  hasten 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead." 

Here  in  Faneuil  hall,  let  us  vow,  as 
the  greatest  tribute  we  can  pay  to  Mr. 
Garrison's  memory,  to  keep  alive  the 
sacred  flame  of  universal  liberty  in 
the  Republic  for  all  races  and  classes, 
by  every  legitimate  means,  petitions 
to  individuals,  to  associations,  to  for 
eign  governments,  to  legislatures,  to 
congress,  print  and  circulate  literature, 
and  let  the  voice  of  the  agent  and  lec 
turer  be  constantly  heard.  Let  us 
swear  to  be  "as  harsh  as  truth,  and  as 
uncompromising  as  justice."  And  let 
us  bear  in  mind  the  beauty  of  doing 
all  things  for  the  upbuilding  of  hu 
manity;  persecution  and  intellectual 
development  have  broadened  us  until 
we  can  clearly  see  that  if  the  blacks 
are  downed  in  the  fight  for  manhood, 
no  individual  or  race  will  be  safe  with 
in  our  borders.  This  government  has 
welded  all  races  into  one  great  na 
tion  until  now,  what  is  good  for  the 
individual  member  of  the  body  politic 
is  good  for  all,  and  vice  versa.  Here 
where  the  south  and  its  sympathizers 
have  so  strenuously  denied  the  broth 
erhood  of  man,  by  our  mixed  popula 
tion,  God  has  proved  his  declaration, 
"Of  one  blood  have  I  made  all  races 
of  men  to  dwell  upon  the  whole  face 
of  the  earth  together."  This  truth 
Mr.  Garrison  and  his  followers  freely 
acknowledged  in  the  beauty  and  purity 
of  their  lives-  and  deeds. 

Mr.  Edwin  D.  Me*ad  of  the  Old 
South  work,  said  in  part: 

There  is  no  word  of  Garrison's  quot 
ed  so  often  as  that  which  he  put  on 
the  front  of  the  Liberator  and  which 
is  on  his  statue,  and  yet  that  very 
word  is  a  far  more  fitting  motto  of 
the  crusade  in  behalf  of  the  brother 
hood  of  nations  than  of  the  crusade  in 
behalf  of  emancipation.  He  said  all 
of  the  great  anti-slavery  leaders  in 
England  were  alive  to  the  necessity  of 
this  struggle  for  the  brotherhood  of 
nations.  The  leaders  of  these  two 


movements    were    largely    the      same 
men. 

Chas.  Sumner  began  his  public  ca 
reer  with  his  Fourth  of  July  oration 
against  war,  and  continued  the  effort 
there  begun  until  the  end  of  his  life, 
and  fought  his  life  long  as  hard  for 
peace  as  for  emancipation.  Garrison 
of  all  the  great  group  was  perhaps  the 
most  sweeping  opponent  of  war,  going 
the  full  length  of  the  non-resistant 
principle,  like  Tolstoy  today,  con 
demning  even  defensive  war,  a  posi 
tion  not  taken  by  Sumner  or  Chan- 
ning.  A  conquest  by  force,  he  said, 
was  no  real  conquest  at  all;  only  by 
love  and  reason  was  genuine  conquest 
possible.  His  work  was  for  the  re 
demption  of  the  human  race;  he  was 
bound,  he  said,  by  a  law  which  knew 
no  national  partitions.  One  of  his  last 
efforts  was  against  our  severe  exclu 
sion  laws  against  the  Chinese.  He 
wished  that  every  custom  house  on 
earth  might  be  abolished;  ludicrous 
and  mischievous  especially  were  pro 
tective  laws  in  behalf  of  people's  prid 
ing  themselves  upon  being  stronger 
and  more  intelligent  than  their 
neighbors.  He  was  Mazzini's  sym 
pathizing  and  admiring  friend;  and 
today  his  heart  would  beat  strongly 
in  sympathy  with  the  struggling  mil 
lions  of  Russia.  The  European  re 
formers,  Dickens,  Harriet  Martineau, 
Bright,  Mill,  Victor  Hugo,  were  the 
supporters  and  inspirers  of  our  anti- 
slavery  reformers,  and  George  Thomp 
son  stood  fittingly  by  Garrison's  side 
at  Fort  Sumter,  in  1865,  when  the 
old  flag  rose  again,  the  symbol  now 
of  a  nation  from  which  slavery  had 
been  banished.  And  yet  the  work  of 
emancipation  is  not  yet  wholly  done; 
crying  abuses  against  the  Negro  de 
mand  redress,  while  in  many  parts  of 
the  land  his  elementary  political 
rights  are  denied  him.  The  Garrison 
spirit  is  needed  still  in  the  war 
against  slavery.  it  is  needed  more 
in  the  war  against  war.  In  this  day 
of  multiplying  battleships,  and  of  iter 
ated  and  reiterated  boasts  in  highest 
official  places  that  we  are  a  mighty 
folk,  who  "don't  want  to  fight,  but 
by  jingo  if  we  do!"  we  need  to  real 
ize  anew  the  duty  of  a  gireat  nation 
acting  like  a  gentleman;  we  need  to 
remember  with  Garrison  that  a  selfish 
and  bastard  patriotism  is  a  mischiev 
ous  and  mournful  principle,  that  we 
are  men  before  we  are  Americans,  and 
that  our  obligations  are  to  all  man 
kind. 


ONE  HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY 


Rev.  Dr.  A.  A.  Berle  of  Salem,  a 
noted  Congregational  minister,  said  in 
part: 

The   Negro   race,   whatever   it  once 
was,   is   here   as   an   integral   part  of 
American  citizenship.     And  it  is  here 
not    to    be    reckoned    with      primarily 
as    a    charge,      primarily    as     an      is 
sue,   but     primarily     as     a   body     of 
American  citizens,  and  as  an  Ameri 
can  who  expects  to  exercise  his  suf 
frage  as  an  American     a  few     years 
longer,      I      refuse      to      regard      my 
countryman    either    as      a    charge,   as 
a  problem  or  as  an  issue.     I  propose 
to  regard  him  as  a  citizen  and  as  a 
citizen    alone.      (Applause.)      I    think 
that  wise  words   of   advice   were   the 
words   already   spoken   by  my   friend, 
Mr.  Pillsbury,  when  he  said  that  the 
Negroes    of   America    must    act    as    a 
unit.    And  they  must  act  together  and 
bring  the  entire  wealth  of  mind  and 
thought     and    spirit   and     conscience 
which  the  total  race  possesses  to  bear 
upon   their   own    problem   of  develop 
ment   and   advancement.     There   is   a 
question,    however,    as    to   purchasing 
unity        upon        a      platform        upon 
which     the     unity     is       not       worth 
having.      (Applause).      Believing   as   I 
do   that  the   problem   of  education   is 
a  problem  for  us  all,  I  believe  that  in 
dustrial  education  is  essential  to  the 
black  man  and  the  white  man  alike. 
But  I  refuse  to  believe  that  any  por 
tion  of  American  citizens  is  to  be  per 
manently  set  apart  for  mere  industrial 
improvement.      (Applause.)      What   is 
the  question,  the  problem,  that  is  agi 
tating    the    white    race?      The    indus 
trial    question.      What    is    the    great 
terror  that  is  stirring  us  all?     Trium 
phant,  insistent,  repressive  industrial 
ism.     Are  you  willing  that  a  recently 
emerged      race      shall       be       handed, 
bound   hand   and   foot,   into   the   arms 
of    the    industrial    monster?      (Great 
applause.)      I   say  this  because  I   be 
lieve  that  you  can  never  permanent 
ly    separate    in    this    land    the    black 
man    from   his    citizenship.      Why    do 
we     have   demonstrative     exhibitions 
like  this  here?  We  have  them  because 
we  have  the  monstrous  spectacle  of  a 
race    practically    submerged    and    de 
prived  of  its  national  citizenship,  con 
demned    to    involuntary    servitude    in 
America. 

Now,  my  dear  friends,  to  me  it  is  a 
perfectly  natural  develo'mient  of  this 
condition  that  the  theory  widely  em 
braced  south  and  north  that 
the  Negro  race  needs  primar 


ily     to     be       fitted       for       industrial 
occupation      should    receive      the    en 
dowment    of   p.    conspicuous    figure   in 
an  industrial  trust.     (Great  applause.) 
I  want  to   say  to  you  this  afternoon 
that  if  I  were  a  Negro  as  I  am  a  white 
man;   if  I  were  with  you  in  the  tradi 
tions      which    belong     to   the     Negro 
race,    I    would    spurn    any   platform   of 
unity  that  first  had  to  spurn  the  Con 
stitution  of  the   United  States.   (Great 
applause.)        The    denominational    or 
gan,  of  that  to  whch  I  belong  said  the 
other  day  that  the  days  of  the  radi 
cals  were  over,  and  I  suppose  in  some 
sense  that  is  true.    But  let  us  at  least 
remember  that  it  does  not  lie  in  the 
power  of  any  man  or  any  set  of  men 
permanently   to   hold  down    the   truth 
in    unrighteousness.       And   I      simply 
came  this  afternoon  to  bid  you  Godspeed 
on  the  line  for  which  Garrison  stood. 
And  let  me  say  to  you  that  in  spite 
of  all  I  may  seem  to  have  implied  by 
what  I  have  said,  make  no  mistakes. 
You  will  have  to  advance  industrially. 
I     am   sorry  for  any  man,  white     or 
black,  who  does  not  know  the  use  of 
his  hands.     But  I  want  to  say,  while 
you  advance,  God  help  your  race,  as 
God     only  apparently  can   help     any 
race,  as  long  as  it  sticks  by  the  mon 
strous  degrading   maxim,  "Get   money 
in  the  bank."     (Wild  applause).     I  will 
say  to  you  what  we  must  do  is  to  hark 
back  to  the  primary  platform  which  is 
embodied   in   the   United   States   Con 
stitution.     And   when  we  have   made 
citizenship  mean  what  it  is  supposed 
to  mean  in  every  part  of  this  land  you 
will   not  need  the  endowment  of  any 
millionaire  to  set  your  schools  in  mo 
tion,  because  free  men  build  their  own 
schools    and    educate   their   own   chil 
dren,  themselves. 

This  statement  was  hailed  with  en 
thusiastic  and  instant  approval.  The 
applause  as  Rev.  Dr.  Berle  finished 
was  deafening.  The  audience  went  wild 
with  delight  over  his  assertions  as  to 
the  terms  of  race  unity  and  as  to  in 
dustrialism.  A.  M.  Howe,  Esq.,  an 
eminent  Boston  lawyer  and  reformer, 
rose  at  the  back  of  the  platform  and 
shouting  in  a  loud  voice,  "Thank  God 
for  a  self-respecting  man,"  led  three 
cheers  for  Berle,  which  were  given 
with  a  will  by  the  audience. 

Mr.  Reed  said  in  part: 

The  stirring  events  in  connection 
with  this  celebration  have  prompted 
this  query  in  my  mind:  What  would 


BIRTH  OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


43 


Garrison  do  if  he  was  again  among 
us?  Could  he  but  see  the  gradual 
nullification  of  his  life's  work,  the  re- 
enslavement  and  disfranchisement  of 
a  portion  of  the  race  he  labored  so 
hard  to  free;  could  he  but  come  to 
Boston,  the  scene  of  his  early  strug 
gles  and  final  triumphs;  could  he  but 
see  here,  as  I  have  seen,  men  and  wo 
men,  some  of  the  best  in  the  land,  be 
cause  of  their  color  turned  away  in  the 
night  and  the  cold  from  public  inns; 
refused  admittance  or  herded  in  thea 
tre  and  other  places  of  a  public  na 
ture,  ignored  and  ridiculed,  denied 
even  a  fair  chance  to  secure  food  and 
raiment — could  Garrison  see  these 
conditions  as  they  confront  you  and 
me  today,  I  believe  that  he  would  start 
another  "Liberator." 

Its  initial  number  would  contain  a 
message  to  both  races.  To  his  own 
race  he  would  say:  "You  have  been 
false  to  the  trust  I  gave  you,"  and  I 
think  he  would  say,  too,  that  "When 
a  people's  liberty  is  in  jeopardy  there 
is  something  more  potent  needed  than 
kind  words  and  sympathy."  To  my 
own  race  I  can  hear  him  repeating: 
"Be  United,"  "Fear  God,  then  disre 
gard  all  other  fears." 

If  ever  Boston  needed  another  Gar 
rison  it  is  now.  We  need  one  to 
warm  the  hearts  of  the  thousands  who 
in  the  mad  fight  for  gold  have  left 
poor  humanity  to  suffer  in  the  cold. 
We  need  a  Garrison  at  the  head  of 
some  of  our  great  dailies  to  speak  out 
boldly  and  in  uncompromising  lan 
guage  against  the  wrongs  heaped  upon 
us. 

If  we  had  more  Garrisons  at  the 
head  of  some  of  our  mercantile  firms 
the  Colored  boys  and  girls  with  merit, 
seeking  positions  there,  would  not  be 
turned  away  with  the  cold  answer, 
"No  Negro  need  apply." 

I  am  not  pessimistic  nor  do  I  for 
a  moment  forget  the  shortcomings  of 
my  own  race.  It  is  with  us  that  the 
real  evil  lies  and  it  is  with  us  that 
the  remedy  must  be  sought.  "Who 
would  be  free  himself  must  strike  the 
blow." 

Kossuth,  the  famous  Hungarian 
leader,  himself  an  exile  for  freedom's 
sake,  speaking  in  Faneuil  Hall  a  half- 
century  ago,  sounded  a  keynote  which 
we  may  with  profit  apply.  Said  he: 
"Freedom  never  was  given  to  a  na 
tion  as  a  gift,  but  only  as  a  reward 
bravely  earned  by  own  exertions,  own 
sacrifices  and  own  toils." 

William    Lloyd    Garrison,    typifying 


as  he  did  in  a  sense  the  life  of  the 
lowly  Nazarene,  suffered  and  endured 
much  that  the  slave  might  be  free 
and  now  as  men  and  women  how  much 
more  ought  we  to  sacrifice  that  his 
work  shall  endure. 

Prof.  A.  B.  Hart  of  Harvard  Univer 
sity  said  in  part: 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  today 
about  the  future  and  about  the  pres 
ent,  and  it  is  right  to  weave  the  fu 
ture  into  the  present.  But  as  I  came 
into  this  hall  something  else  had  come 
into  my  mind.  It  is  the  figure  of  a 
man  whom  I  never  saw,  yet  whom  all 
of  us  have  seen,  the  personality  of 
that  great  character  whose  100th 
birthday  we  have  come  here  to  cele 
brate.  One  hundred  years  ago  today 
that  man  first  saw  the  light.  Seventy 
years  ago  today,  almost  to  a  day,  a 
public  meeting  was  held  in  this  hall, 
presided  over  by  the  then  mayor  of 
Boston,  to  protest  against  William 
Lloyd  Garrison.  And  at  that  meeting 
Peter  Chandler  pointed  to  this  pic 
ture  of  Washington  as  a  slave-holder, 
forgetting  that  that  slave-holder  by 
his  last  will  did  what  he  could  to  re 
pair  the  wrong  that  had  been  done  to 
those  people  who  had  served  him,  by 
setting  them  free.  In  that  meeting, 
Otis  criticised  the  abolitionists  as  a 
set  of  incendiaries. 

How  is  it  that  that  man  has  exer 
cised  such  a  mighty  influence  upon 
his  country  and  has  come  to  be  one  of 
the  acknowledged  masters  in  our 
great  republic?  Mr.  Garrison  saw 
what  other  people  failed  to  see — that 
the  truth  should  make  you  free.  (Ap 
plause.)  The  whole  basis  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison's  power  was  not  that  he  could 
create  a  situation,  not  that  it  was  in 
his  power  to  set  free  the  sla^s,  but 
that  they  were  by  nature  free.  And 
what  he  set  out  to  do  and  what  he 
succeeded  in  doing  was  simply  to  call 
the  attention  of  his  countrymen  to  the 
truth  which  lay  before  them  all — a 
truth  so  mighty  that  it  burst  the  bonds 
in  which  men  had  attempted  to  en 
velop  it.  Furthermore,  Mr.  Garrison 
stood  for  a  principle  for  which  every 
man,  woman  and  child  in  America 
owes  him  thanks  on  this,  his  100th 
birtnday,  namely,  the  principle  that 
there  is  no  offence  to  anybody  in  tell 
ing  the  truth  and  in  telling  it  in  pub 
lic. 

Among  the  arguments  put  forth  at 
that  time  was  that  on  one  side  the 


44 


ONK    IMNDKI-.DTH    ANNIVKRSARY 


Negro  race  was  a  poor,  weak,  servile 
race,  and  that  on  the  other  side  it 
was  a  race  so  strong  and  powerful 
that  you  could  not  whisper  in  the 
hearing  of  a  slave  that  he  ought  to  be 
free  without  deluging  the  country  in 
blood  and  breaking  up  the  whole  in 
stitution  itself.  That  contradiction 
was  carefully  expressed  by  Mr.  Garri 
son.  If  the  Negro  was  poor  and  weak, 
where  was  the  danger  from  him?  If 
he  was  strong  and  powerful,  where 
was  the  right  that  he  should  be  held 
a  slave? 

This  man,  so  strong,  was  after  all 
a  man  of  kindness,  of  simplicity  of 
heart.  He  not  only  hated  the  sinner 
and  the  oppressor,  but  he  loved  the 
oppressed. 

The  world  is  advanced  by  the  man 
of  one  idea,  the  men  who  have  the 
strength  and  power  to  fill  their  minds 
with  one  subject.  I  feel,  therefore, 
grateful  today  for  Mr.  Garrison,  not 
because  he  was  always  right,  because 
if  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  friends  were 
always  right,  then  my  father  and 
grandfather  were  often  wrong. 
(Laughter).  I  am  willing  to  divide 
the  responsibility.  Not  because  he 
was  always  just;  he  was  often  hard 
and  terrible.  But  because  he  had  in 
him  such  a  belief  in  the  rightfulness 
of  his  cause  that  he  must  speak  and 
the  people  before  him  must  listen  to 
him.  I  admire  Mr.  Garrison;  I  am 
proud  to  appear  here  today  upon  this 
anniversary  because  he  justified  what 
he  said  of  himself.  "I  have  flattered 
no  man." 

Mr.  Henry  B.  Blackwell,  upon  whose 
head  the  south  once  put  a  price,  said 
in  part: 

I  met  Mr.  Garrison  under  peculiar 
circumstances.  He  was  brought  to 
our  house  in  Jersey  City  when  I  was 
about  twelve  years  old  by  my  father 
to  spend  the  night,  because  it  was 
thought  unsafe  for  him  to  remain  in 
New  York.  I  remember  him  as  a 
man  thirty-two  years  of  age. 

Garrison  did  not  believe  In  using 
physical  force,  nor  military  force,  nor 
political  force.  He  stood  where  Tol 
stoi  stood,  but  he  believed  in  telling 
the  truth  and  relying  solely  upon  the 
truth.  The  people  of  the  south  were 
driven  to  the  question  of  confederacy, 
and  then  came  on  Lincoln.  And  Lin 
coln  did  not  dare  to  issue  his  Emanci 
pation  Proclamation  until  several 
years  of  war  had  so  warped  the  brains 


of  the  people  of  the  north  that  he  was 
able  to  take  this  step.  But  there 
never  would  have  been  an  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation,  there  never  would 
have  been  a  Lincoln  if  there  had  not 
been  a  Garrison.  (Applause.) 

You  heard  that  beautiful  intelligent 
speech  of  a  Colored  lady,  Miss  Hop 
kins.  She  never  could  have  made 
that  speech  if  Mr.  Garrison  had  not 
made  it  possible  for  her  to  do  so.  He 
advocated  liberty  for  woman  as  well 
as  man.  The  greatest  work  that  Mr. 
Garrison  did,  in  my  opinion,  was  not 
in  emancipating  the  Negro  slave,  but 
It.  was  in  establishing  the  equality  of 
women.  You  will  never  have  a  free 
country  until  its  government  rests 
upon  the  suffrage  of  women  as  well  as 
man.  You  may  say  what  you  please 
and  preach  what  you  please,  but  you 
will  be  permanently  in  warfare  until 
you  put  the  ballot  in  the  hands  of  wo 
man.  Let  me  tell  you  that  the  Col 
ored  women  are  as  much  citizens  as 
the  Colored  men,  and  they  need  the 
ballot  far  more  than  the  men,  for  the 
Colored  women  of  the  south  are  sub 
jected  to  insults  and  injustice  far  more 
than  the  men.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Garrison  went  over  to  London 
to  the  anti-slavery  convention,  and  the 
women  were  denied  a  seat  there;  he 
would  not  sit  in  that  convention  but 
took  a  seat  in  the  gallery  with  the 
women.  I  want  to  say  that  Mr.  Garri 
son  has  made  a  beginning — that  has 
already  borne  fruit.  While  it  is  true 
that  chattel  slavery  is  abolished,  it  is 
also  true  that  about  forty  thousand 
square  miles  of  American  soil  is  liv 
ing  under  woman  suffrage.  The  wo 
men  sent  eight  senators  to  the  Con 
gress  of  the  United  States  and  nine 
representatives.  And  now  I  appeal  to 
this  Suffrage  League.  Gentlemen,  let 
your  league  stan£  for  suffrage  for 
wWmen  as  well  as  for  men.  Do  not 
forget  that  one-half  the  oppressed  peo 
ple  in  this  land  are  women  and  their 
rights  must  be  maintained  as  well  as 
the  men's.  Let  us  remember  that  this 
question  of  liberty  which  was  Garrh 
son's  is  the  most  important  of  all  ques 
tions;  for  as  Emerson  said,  "Of  what 
value  is  land  or  life,  if  freedom  fail?" 

Mr.  Edward  H.  Clement,  editor  of 
the  Boston  Transcript,  said  in  part: 

There  is  plenty  of  opportunity  and 
plenty  of  call  for  the  "hard  language" 
which  Garrison  admitted  he  was  ac 
customed  to  use  because  "he  had  not 


BIRTH  OF  WILLIAM  LLOYD  GARRISON 


45 


been  able  to  find  a  soft  word  to  de 
scribe  villainy  or  to  identify  the  perpe 
trator  of  it."  Even  as  regards  his 
specialty  of  rescuing  the  Negro  from 
oppression  almost  everything  remains 
to  be  done  over  large  sections  of  our 
country, — indeed  in  our  own  commun 
ity  as  well,  in  the  social  prejudices  of 
cold  hearts  and  narrow  minds.  As  the 
Negro  rises  the  force  of  gravitation  of 
the  baser  habits  of  thought  of  the 
average  masses  pulls  the  harder 
against  him.  At  the  hour  when  he  had 
barely  risen  out  of  slavery  we  were 
establishing  his  citizenship  and  his 
equality  in  rights  in  the  Constitution 
and  the  statutes.  Today  the  civil 
rights  are  waste  paper  and  the  repeal 
of  his  guarantees  of  citizenhood  in  the 
Constitution  is  openly  agitated.  Is 
there  not  as  much  reason  for  us  as  for 
Garrison  to  dedicate  ourselves  as  he 
did  to  trust  in  God  with  the  defiant 
faith: — "We  may  be  personally  de 
feated  but  our  principles  never."  Is 
there  not  as  much  necessity  to  cry  that 
we  will  not  equivocate,  that  we  will 
not  yield  an  inch,  and  that  we  will  be 
heard?  Shall  we  not  rise  to  this  con 
ception  of  duty  that  the  obligation  to 
do  a  righteous  act  is  not  at  all  de 
pendent  on  the  question  whether  we 
shall  succeed  in  carrying  the  multi 
tude  with  us? 

"My  only  point  is  that  we  have  no 
business  with  his  glory  today  if  we 
have  none  of  his  spirit.  If  we  are 
proud  and  grateful  on  his  birthday 
that  such  an  American  was  produced 
by  our  state  and  city,  I  say,  let  us  ex 
press  oar  sense  of  this  great  man  we 
honor  in  more  than  lip-service.  If  we 
see  around  us  'men  wearing  their 
chains  in  a  cowardly  and  servile 
spirit/  as  he  described  the  conserva 
tism  of  his  day,  let  us  as  advocates 
of  peace,  avow,  as  he  did,  that  'we 
would  much  rather  see  them  breaking 
the  head  of  the  tyrant  with  their 
chains,'  whether  the  tyranny  be  em 
bodied  in  the  benighted  and  belated 
Negrophobia  of  the  south,  or  in  the 
bossism  of  northern  municipal  corrup 
tion,  or  in  the  monopolies  of  capital 
ized  privilege  by  grace  of  bought  leg 
islation,  or  in  the  zeal  of  religious 
darkness  and  bigotry.  The  only  way 
to  estimate  the  true  greatness  of  Gar 
rison  is  to  reflect  that  the  opportunity 
for  his  career  is  never  wanting,  never 
has  been,  and,  till  the  millennium, 
never  will  be,  and  yet  his  triumph  re 
mains  unique — unparalleled  in  start 
ing  as  small  as  was  Garrison's  begin 


ning  and  ending  as  stupendous — with 
the  whole  of  the  material  and  moral 
and  financial  resources  of  the  nation 
practically  arrayed  under  his  stand 
ard  against  his  selected  object  of  de 
struction.  The  elements  of  his  prob 
lem  are  never  absent.  These  ele 
ments  are  entrenched  wrong,  the  vest 
ed  interests  which  thrive  upon  it,  the 
cold-blooded  indifference  of  those 
whose  withers  are  unwrung,  the  timid 
ity  and  selfishness  of  all  who  dread 
disturbance  of  established  order,  the 
fear  of  ridicule  for  the  unpopular  mi 
nority — the  consequent  inertia  of  the 
mass,  most  terrible  of  all  resistance 
to  overcome.  But  there  is  no  use  to 
pursue  the  threadbare  story  now.  The 
thing  for  us  to  think  of  here  today  is 
that  the  opportunity  and  the  call  for 
martyrdom  is  the  same  today  as  then, 
for  you  and  me  as  for  him.  The  ques 
tion  up  to  us  is,  "Where  is  the  hero 
of  the  hour?  Who  are  they  that  are 
doing  in  our  day  the  same  sort  of 
pioneering,  with  the  same  sacrifices 
and  stripes,  that  Garrison  did?  Let 
us  beware,  as  we  join  in  the  execra 
tion  of  some  agitator  v/ho  is  called  a 
dangerous  disturber,  a  low  fellow  to 
be  got  rid  of  and  silenced  somehow, 
lest  we  be  running  with  a  'broadcloth 
mob'  again,  and  stoning  a  prophet  un 
awares." 

Mr.  F.  B.  Sanborn  of  Concord,  per 
sonal  friend  of  Mr.  Garrison,  said: 
Friends  of  Universal  Liberty: 

Standing  on  this  platform,  trodden 
by  five  generations  of  Adamses  and 
Quincys,  by  Phillips,  by  Lafayette, 
by  Kossuth  and  by  Garrison  himself 
many  times,  I  find  myself,  as  they  did, 
before  an  audience  friendly  to  free 
dom.  Not  your  freedom,  merely,  and 
my  freedom,  not  the  freedom  of  Anglo- 
Saxons  and  Irishmen  and  Frenchmen 
and  Hungarians  alone,  not  apologists 
for  a  miserable  patchwork  right  of 
self-government,  spotted  white  here, 
swarthy  there,  yellow  in  another 
patch,  according  to  the  whim  of  some 
self-styled  "superior  race,"  but  advo 
cates  of  the  reasonable  liberty  of  all 
races  to  govern  themselves  without 
the  "benevolent  assimilation"  extend 
ed  by  destructive  warfare  to  the 
swarthy  Boers  of  the  Transvaal  and 
the  brown  allies  of  our  armies  in  the 
Filipino  satrapy  of  our  misguided  Re 
public.  But  among  the  many  life 
long  services  rendered  to  liberty  by 
the  friend  whose  anniversary  we  com 
memorate,  I  shall  speak  only  of  one 


ONE   HUNDREDTH  ANNIVERSARY 


line  of  his  ceaseless  activity,  his  ca 
reer  as  journalist  of  freedom. 

Garrison  was  neither  for  "Our  coun 
try  right  or  wrong,"  nor  for  the  dear 
people,  right  or  wrong.  He  was  for 
keeping  the  people  right,  and  if  they 
went  wrong,  giving  them  to  under 
stand  where  they  were  wrong;  and 
he  had  great  skill  in  making  himself 
understood.  (Laughter.) 

Indeed  he  was  well  equipped  for  a 
journalist.  In  the  first  place  he  had 
learned  to  print,  as  our  best  journalists 
have  often  done,  from  Ben  Franklin 
till  now,  and  not  seldom  he  "set  up" 
his  articles  without  writing  them  down 
— a  practice  that  favors  conciseness 
and  point,  just  as  the  opposite  habit 
of  dictating  to  a  stenographer  favors 
diffuseness  and  lack  of  point.  Then 
he  was  an  omnivorous  reader,  as  most 
good  writers  have  been,  and  could 
express  himself  with  facility  either 
in  prose  or  verse.  Best  of  all,  he  had 
a  great  cause  to  hold  him  to  the  point 
and  not  suffer  him  to  fritter  himself 
away  in  miscellaneous  interests,  as  too 
many  good  writers  do.  To  be  sure, 
he  allowed  his  zeal  for  righteousness, 
which  in  New  England  is  apt  to  take 
the  form  of  self-righteousness,  to  lead 
him  into  many  specific  reforms,  akin 
to  anti-slavery  by  a  sort  of  affinity,  but 
not  of  necessity  connected  with  it,— 
peace,  temperance,  non-resistance,  land 
reform,  woman  suffrage,  anti-sectarian 
religion.  But  this  did  not  so  much 
vitiate  his  style  as  disaffect  his  own 
friends.  They  objected,  too,  to  his 
harshness  of  language,  in  which  he 
shared  the  peculiarities  of  American 
journalists  of  the  decades  from  1830 
to  1850. 

He  shared  with  Horace  Greeley  and 
other  contemporary  journalists  the  er 
ror  that  strong  epithets  added  to  the 
force  of  an  argument,  and  might  at- 
tone  for  possible  defects  in  logic 
His  opponents  and  Greeley's  had  the 
some  idea,  and  one  of  them,  Colonel 
Webb  of  the  New  York  Courier  and 
Enquirer,  said  of  the  abolitionists  of 
1336: 

"They  are  a  poor,  miserable  set  of 
drivelling  dastards,  who  always  run 
into  the  shavings,  like  William  Lloyd 
Garrison,  when  their  own  poor  pates 
are  in  danger." 

To  be  sure,  Garrison  had  before  this 
called  Colonel  Webb  "the  cowardly 
ruffian,  who  conducts  the  'Courier  and 
Enquirer,'  and  had  styled  another  edi 
tor  "the  miserable  liar  and  murderous 


hypocrite  of  the  New  York  Commer 
cial  Advertiser." 

And  about  the  same  time  (1833)  he 
denounced  Henry  Clay,  and  other 
southern  advocates  of  Negro  coloniza 
tion  in  these  vehement  terms: 

"Ye  crafty  calculators!  ye  hard 
hearted,  incorrigible  sinners!  ye 
greedy  and  relentless  robbers!  ye  con- 
temners  of  justice  and  mercy!  Ye 
trembling,  pitiful,  palefaced  usurpers, 
my  soul  spurns  you  with  unspeakable 
disgust.  (Laughter). 

In  spite  of  this  Old  Testament  dia 
lect  of  denunciation,  which  he  never 
quite  unlearned,  though  he  moderated 
it  sensibly  in  the  later  years  of  his 
newspaper.  Garrison  made  the  "Liber 
ator"  a  model  among  weekly  news 
papers  in  several  respects,  and  it  has 
now  become  an  invaluable  historical 
work  for  reference.  He  practised 
what  he  preached,  and  allowed  his  op 
ponents  to  speak  of  him  in  his  own 
paper  as  sharply  as  they  chose. 

Hi«  own  articles  were  sometimes 
open  to  the  objection  which  he  once 
brought  against  those  of  his  friend 
and  converter,  Benjamin  Lundy: 

"His  style  of  writing  was  brisk,  sar 
castic,  fearless,  witty,  vigorous — at 
times  rising  to  eloquence  and  sublim 
ity,  but  frequently  careless  and  inele 
gant.  Like  almost  every  conductor  of 
a  public  press,  he  was  compelled  to 
write  his  articles  in  haste,  with  little 
or  no  time  for  revision." 

Both  as  journalist  and  public  speak 
er,  however,  Garrison  was  seldom  un 
prepared.  It  was  a  natural  result  of 
the  strenuous  and  watchful  life  he  led 
for  so  many  years  that  he  was  never 
off  his  guard.  His  capacious  memory, 
his  flow  of  language,  his  quickness  ot 
perception  and  analysis,  made  up  for 
any  defect  of  logic  he  might  have.  In 
reasoning  indeed  his  premises  were 
few  and  his  conclusions  were  fore 
ordained. 

Garrison  was  so  grounded  in  jus 
tice  that  his  own  vehemence  could 
seldom  blind  his  eyes  to  the  truth, 
though  it  might  lead  him  into  a  false 
position.  He  had  courage,  veracity, 
and  clearness  of  mind;  he  was  free 
from  avarice,  meanness,  and  excessive 
ambition,  and  these  are  traits  of  a 
good  journalist.  Like  Greeley  and 
some  other  great  journalists,  he  some 
times  allowed  his  personality  to  get 
in  his  straightforward  way;  he  had 
not  the  modesty  that  makes  the  cause 
everything,  the  person  nothing.  But 


BIRTH  OF  WILLIAM    LLOYU    GARRISON 


47 


even  this  slight  defect  may  have  been 
essential  to  the  post  he  held  so  long 
and  so  bravely.  The  captain  who 
heads  a  forlorn  hope,  the  pilot  who  is 
to  weather  the  storm  must  not  think 
meanly  of  themselves. 

Garrison,  like  Phillips  and  John 
Brown,  was  fitted  and  weaponed  for 
the  work  assigned  him. 

Mr.  Walter  Allen,  who  had  been 
present,  editor  on  the  Boston  Herald, 
was  unable  to  speak,  and  his  letter 
was  read  by  Secretary  Trotter. 

Boston,  Mass.,  Dec.  9,  1905. 
William    Trotter,   Esq., 

Secretary  of  the  Boston  Suffrage 
league: 

Dear  Sir— When  you  personally 
brought  to  me  sometime  ago  an  invi 
tation  to  be  one  of  the  speakers  at  the 
Garrison  centennial  memorial  meeting 
in  Faneuil  Hall,  in  the  afternoon 
of  Monday,  Dec.  11,  I  promptly  said 
to  you  that  the  condition  of  my  health 
required  me  to  decline  making  public 
addresses.  I  desire  now  more  formal 
ly  to  acknowledge  the  honorable  cour 
tesy  of  the  Boston  Suffrage  league, 
and  to  express  my  regret  that  I  am 
prevented  from  undertaking  a  service 
which  it  would  be  my  joy  and  pride  to 
attempt,  if  it  were  prudent. 

To  be  thus  associated,  even  by  an 
humble  performance,  with  the  great 
name  and  fame  of  William  Lloyd  Gar 
rison  would  gratify  my  sense  of  obli 
gation.  When  I  was  a  boy  I  was  a 
reader  of  the  Liberator,  and  a  fre 
quent  attendant  at  meetings  of  the 
Abolitionists.  I  heard  Mr.  Garrison 
speak  on  two  or  three  occasions.  He 
had  a  share  in  forming  my  early  opin 
ions,  was,  indeed,  one  of  my  educators 
whose  influence  abides.  If  through  a 
long  service  as  a  writer  for  newspa 
pers,  I  have  preserved,  as  I  trust  I 
have,  a  sincere  purpose  to  speak  the 
truth  with  courage  in  ail  matters  af 
fecting  liberty  and  human  rights,  it  is 
due  in  large  part  to  the  example  of  his 
absolute  obedience  to  the  heavenly  vi 
sion. 

The  first  words  I  heard  from  Garri 
son's  lips,  the  opening  sentences  of  an 
address  delivered  at  a  meeting  of  the 
Anti-slavery  society  in  anniversary 
week,  about  1856,  were,  as  my  mem 
ory  recalls  them,  these:  "Some  per 
sons  say  they  are  abolitionists,  but 
are  not  Garrisonian  abolitionists.  I 
am  a  Garrisonian  abolitionist  and  ex 
pect  to  be  one  as  long  as  I  live." 


When  our  young  David  challenged 
the  Goliath  of  slavery,  learned  men, 
pious  men,  men  having  a  stake  in  the 
country,  cried  out  against  his  temer 
ity.  He  was  mad;  he  was  impious; 
he  was  a  traitor;  he  had  a  devil.  Be 
sides,  he  was  obscure,  unschooled, 
egotistical  and  dangerous.  They  did 
not,  and  could  not,  apprehend  the 
compelling  soul  of  the  journeyman 
printer. 

These  blind  judgments  have  had 
abundant,  echoing  rehearsals  in  mis 
taken  souls.  Always  there  are  those 
who  fancy  they  can  give  God  lessons 
in  making  history.  Today  wiseacres 
tell  us  how  the  American  conscience 
— "drunk  with  cotton  and  the  New 
York  Observer,"  as  Phillips  said: 
would  surely  have  destroyed  slavery 
if  there  had  been  no  Garrison.  They 
demonstrate  to  their  own  contentment 
that  he  was  an  obstacle  to  emancipa 
tion—as  if  the  Almighty  did  not  know 
what  he  was  about  wnen  he  let  the 
Liberator  be  established.  The  useless 
diversion  of  ex  post  facto  reformers 
is  to  invent  gentler  means  of  over 
throwing  tyranny  than  the  plagues  of 
Egypt,  the  dagger  of  Brutus,  the  de 
capitation  of  Charles,  the  American 
Revolution,  the  French  terror,  the  an 
ti-slavery  agitation,  and  the  Russian 
strikes.  Let  us  with  saner  modesty 
accept  the  thing  that  is  apparent — the 
mountain  which  old  earthquakes  lift 
ed  into  the  sky,  the  hero-prophet  who 
cried  aloud  .for  righteousness  in  a  per 
verse  and  wicked  generation,  who 
would  not  retreat  and  who  would  be 
heard. 

Garrison  was  the  morning  star, 
forerunner  of  Lincoln,  the  glorious 
sun  of  emancipation.  Phillips  said  of 
Lincoln  that  he  went  up  to  God  with 
four  million  broken  shackles  in  his 
hands.  Honest  Abe  must  have  ac 
knowledged,  what  the  Lord  well 
knew,  that  they  were  not  his  trophies 
only,  but  Garrison's  also. 

Respectfully  yours, 

WALTER  ALLEN. 

Mr.  Bradford,  formerly  a  trustee  of 
Atlanta  university  said  in  part:  It 
was  given  to  Garrison  to  be  in  his  day 
and  generation  one  of  the  chief  in 
struments  under  God  to  abolish  hu 
man  slavery.  It  is  given  to  us  in  our 
day  and  generation  to  perfect  the 
work  of  emancipation  by  assuring  to 
the  freedmen  the  fullest  enjoyment  of 
the  rights,  privileges  and  responsibil 
ities  of  citizenship.  It  may  not  be 


r 


ONK    Hl'NDRKDTH     ANNIVKRSARY 


given  to  any  of  us  to  be  a  Garrison, 
but  it  is  given  to  each  of  us  to  do,  in 
his  humble  way,  the  duty  that  lies  at 
his  hand  with  his  courage,  resolution 
and  unselfishness. 

In  looking  to  Garrison  for  inspira 
tion,  we  must  look  always  to  the  man 
rather  than  to  his  methods,  we  must 
remember  that  his  great  influence 
was  due  to  the  power  of  his  person 
ality,  rather  than  to  any  method  em 
ployed. 

If  we  would  prove  ourselves  worthy 
followers  of  Garrison,  if  we  would 
perfect  the  work  he  began  we  must 
prove  ourselves  likewise  fearless  and 
resolute  self-sacrificing  men  of  action. 

As  illustration  of  the  sort  of  action 
which  in  my  judgment  worthily  ex 
presses  the  Garrison  love  of  liber 
ty  and  makes  for  freedom,  I  want  to 
take  up  your  time  a  moment  by  refer 
ring  to  one  or  two  incidents  familiar 
to  most  of  you. 

Once  a  citizen  of  Boston  was  denied 
by  the  school  authorities  the  right 
to  send  his  children  to  a  public  school 
to  which  he  wished  to  send  them.  By 
sheer  force  of  a  dogged  determination 
to  have  that  which  he  believed  was 
his  right  under  the  law,  he  compelled 
the  school  authorities  to  admit  his 
children  to  the  desired  school.  He 
thereby  not  only  served  himself  but 
served  the  community  by  his  example 
of  sturdy  independent  citizenship. 

There  fled  to  Massachusetts  a  fugi 
tive  from  the  injustice  of  a  southern 
state.  The  Colored  men  of  Massachu 
setts  rallied  in  his  defence  and  re 
sisted  by  every  legal  means  in  their 
power  his  extradition.  They  failed  in 
their  immediate  object.  The  fugitive 
was  returned  south,  but  the  resolute 
concerted  action  on  the  part  of  the 
Colored  people  of  Massachusetts  was 
notice  to  the  community  at  large  that 
the  Colored  men  of  Massachusetts 
were  united  in  a  steadfast  purpose  to 
protect  the  individual  members  of 
their  race  from  oppression  and  injus 
tice. 

An  attempt  was  made  in     western 


Massachusetts  to  establish  separate 
public  schools  for  white  and  Colored 
children.  Again  the  Colored  men  of 
Massachusetts,  chiefly  men  of  Boston 
united  to  resist  the  attempt.  This 
time  their  action  was  successful. 

Looking  to  other  cities  we  find  other 
men  of  action  striving  mightly,  Hart 
of  Washington,  striking  an  effective 
blow  at  the  jim  crow  car  law;  Morris 
of  Chicago,  scoring  another  against 
the  jim  crow  restaurant.  While 
more  encouraging  of  all  came,  some 
time  back,  word  that  the  Colored  citi 
zens  of  Jacksonville,  men,  women 
and  children,  had  banded  together 
and  effectively  boycotted  the  jim  crow 
cars  of  that  city  and  that  a  similar 
concerted  movement  was  literally  on 
foot  in  two  towns  in  Texas.  With 
such  civic  virtue,  such  sturdy  spirit 
of  independence,  there  can  be  no 
question  of  the  ultimate  result. 

Mr.  Bradford  closed  by  saying  he 
believed  the  customs  of  prejudice  will 
be  forced  from  their  places  by  the 
new  vigorous  civic  virtue  that  is  or 
ganizing  in  our  midst  like  the  cling 
ing  oak  leaves  are  by  the  fresh  leaf- 
bud  in  spring. 

The  Crescent  male  quartette,  com 
posed  of  Messrs.  C.  A.  E.  Cuffee,  Jas. 
E.  Lee,  Wm.  H.  Richardson  and  Dr.  I. 
L.  Roberts  sang  well  "Lead  Kindly 
Light."  The  Mendelssohn  quartette, 
composed  of  Mrs.  Carrie  Bland  Sheler, 
Mrs.  J.  Patterson  Rollins,  Mr.  T.  Wil- 
cott  Swan,  Mrs.  B.  J.  Ray,  accompan 
ist,  sang  sweetly,  "To  Thee,  O  Coun 
try." 

While  the  collection  was  being  tak 
en  up,  Mr.  John  W.  Hutchinson  sang 
one  of  his  anti-slavery  songs. 

At  the  close  of  the  meeting,  Mr. 
Nathaniel  Butler,  an  aged  man,  who 
worked  in  the  Liberator  office,  and 
Mrs.  Hudson,  who  was  a  fugitive 
slave  under  the  name  of  "Betsey 
Blakely,"  were  introduced  to  the  audi 
ence. 


EVENING  SESSION,    7.30  O'CLOCK 


The  closing  session  of  the  Citizens' 
two  days'  celebration  came  at  7.30 
Monday  night  at  Faneuil  Hall,  and  it 
was  a  fitting  climax  to  the  other  great 
sessions,  made  so  by  the  memorable 
and  inspired  oration  by  Rev.  Reverdy 
C.  Ransom  and  by  an  audience  that 
filled  well  nigh  every  crevice  in  the 
great  Faneuil  Hall. 

It  was  preceded  by  a  short  parade 
over  the  route  over  which  the  "Broad 
cloth"  mob  of  1835  dragged  the  body 
of  the  great  Abolitionist.  Company  L, 
6th  regiment,  Massachusetts  Volunteer 
Militia,  led  by  the  Chief  Marshal, 
Capt.  George  W.  Braxton  came  from 
the  armory  through  Scollay  square, 
followed  by  the  Robert  Gould  Shaw 
Veterans  where  members  of  Robert  A. 
Bell  Post  134,  members  of  the  com 
mittee  and  other  citizens,  men,  women 
and  children,  fell  in  line  and  marched 
down  Court  street,  into  State,  into 
Devonshire,  to  Faneuil  Hall,  Company 
L  presenting  arms  as  the  rest  marched 
into  the  hall  amid  great  applause. 
Company  L  then  filed  into  the  gal 
lery  and  took  the  front  row  of  seats 
on  the  right  side,  being  liberally  ap 
plauded. 

Meantime  the  large  Commonwealth 
Band,  Mr.  William  A.  Smith,  leader, 
composed  of  Colored  musicians  was 
rendering  a  most  excellent  concert, 
the  pieces  being:  March,  Fanfanie, 
Von  Suppe;  waltz,  La  Bacarolle, 
Waldteufel;  Overture,  Lustspiel,  Kela- 
Bela;  excerpts  from  "Woodland,"  Lud- 
ers. 

At  8  o'clock  Mr.  Joshua  A.  Craw 
ford,  chairman  of  the  Centenary  com 
mittee  of  the  Boston  Suffrage  League, 
opened  the  meeting.  After  a  fervent 
prayer  by  Rev.  M.  L.  Harvey,  pastor 
of  the  Morning  Star  Baptist  church,  he 
spoke  in  part  as  follows: 

The  name  of  Garrison  has  always 
awakened  in  us  the  deepest  feeling  of 
gratitude  and  affection.  He  labored 
to  the  end  that  we  might  enjoy  the 
privileges  and  freedom  we  esteem  so 
highly  today. 

His   life   makes   one   of   those   mar 


velous  chapters  in  the  history  of  our 
country  that  excites  the  wonder  and 
admiration  of  the  civilized  world.  A 
high  priest  in  the  cathedral  of  liberty 
and  freedom,  he  raised  the  cross  oi 
a  new  crusade  and  bore  it  triumphant 
ly  through  opposing  hosts  to  the 
Mecca  of  equal  rights  and  freedom  to 
all  men. 

To  confirm  the  freedom  his  efforts 
secured,  to  protect  the  citizenship  they 
conferred,  to  protest  against  every 
wrong,  to  agitate  for  and  demand  all 
of  our  rights  wherever  the  flag  of  our 
country  flies,  is  our  solemn  duty  and 
dearest  hope. 

It  has  been  our  constant  effort  to 
prove  that  he  did  not  labor  in  vain. 
We  have  been  ever  mindful  of  the 
fact  that  we  are  in  the  midst  of  a 
great  moving,  pushing,  breathing  civ 
ilization  and  we  are  moving  on,  push 
ing  on  and  battling  on  with  it,  ask 
ing  nothing  but  those  rights  and  priv 
ileges  that  are  freely  given  to  all  oth 
er  loyal  and  patriotic  sons  and  daugh 
ters  of  the  Republic. 

No  other  age,  no  other  civilization, 
no  other  people  have  placed  so  many 
milestones  along  the  turnpike  of  hu 
man  progress  in  so  short  a  while  as 
this,  our  own  people. 

We  need  not  be  discouraged.  So  long 
as  the  men,  women  and  children  of 
our  race  of  all  walks  of  life,  as  they 
are  represented  in  this  effort,  are  will 
ing  to  lay  aside  all  things  to  do  hom 
age  to  the  memory  of  one  who  did  so 
much  for  them,  the  time  will  yet  come 
when  we  may  say  in  truth,  that  the 
sun  in  his  journey  shines  over  no  peo 
ple  more  free,  more  happy  or  more 
prosperous  than  this  our  own  people. 

Rev.  W.  H.  Scott,  president  of  the 
Boston  Suffrage  League  was  then  in 
troduced.  He  said  in  part: 

We  are  here  today  to  honor  a  man 
who  has  done  much  for  mankind. 
Wm.  Lloyd  Garrison  was  one  of  the 
greatest  champions  of  freedom.  He 
knew  no  creed,  race  nor  nationality, 
but  man.  Garrison  was  a  man  destined 
to  be  a  leader  among  men;  he  was  a 


5° 


ONE    HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 


man  who  could  not  be  bullied  nor  ca 
joled.  We  are  more  than  glad  that 
the  Garrisonian  spirit  has  been  re 
vived,  in  these  days  when  northern 
minions  and  southern  rapersof  thecon- 
Hitution,  are  telling  the  Negroes  to 
ffB.it  and  learn  how  to  vote  and  when 
they  shall  have  become  rich  and  mil 
lionaires,  then,  and  not  until  then, 
shall  they  have  the  right  to  vote.  Mr. 
Garrison  was  a  man  who  made  no 
compromises  of  surrendering  man 
hood.  They  wanted  him  to  let  the 
question  of  slavery  alone;  because  he 
had  no  right  to  disturb  the  conditions 
which  were  accepted;  that  it  was 
mere  foolishness  that  he  could  expect 
to  do  anything  for  the  slave,  even  the 
scholarly  and  learned  Edward  Everett 
thought  that  Garrison  and  his  follow 
ers  ought  to  be  suppressed  by  the 
state  and  nation.  But  Garrison  was 
firm — "I  am  in  earnest.  I  will  not 
equivocate.  I  will  not  excuse.  I  will 
not  retreat  a  single  inch.  And  I  will 
be  heard."  These  words  tell  what  the 
man  was.  Others  might  have  doubts 
but  Garrison  never;  others  might  say 
it  is  impossible  to  overthrow  that 
which  was  intrenched  in  state  and  na 
tion.  The  thousands  of  spindles  of 
Lowell  and  Lawrence  were  fed  by  the 
unrequited  toil  of  the  half-starved  and 
brutalized  slave  of  the  south.  What 
did  the  "Broadcloth"  mob  care  for 
the  cries  and  woes  of  the  Negroes  so 
long  as  their  pockets  were  being 
filled  with  gold?  They  justified  them 
selves  by  saying  he  is  better  off  than 
if  he  were  in  Africa.  So  does  the 
robber  say  that  the  man  or  woman 
whom  he  has  robbed  that  he  should 
be  flad  that  he  had  escaped  with  his 
life.  Mr.  Garrison  was  too  much  for 
the  slave  oligarchy.  He  knew  no  mas 
ter  but  God.  He  believed  in  the  Fa 
therhood  of  God  and  the  brotherhood 
of  man.  He  heard  the  cry  of  Kossuth 
for  the  Hungarian,  the  cry  of  the 
starving  Irishman,  he  heard  the  cry 
when  Greece  was  pleading  for  her 
rights,  he  heard  'the  cry  when  the 
Quaker  was  helping  the  poor  Indian. 
He  loved  man  because  man  was  God's 
noblest  creation.  Mr.  Garrison  start 
ed  a  paper  Jan.  1,  1831,  which  was  to 
voice  the  sentiments  th.  were  to  ul 
timately  triumph  over  this  monster 
Two  years  later  he  started  the  anti- 
slavery  society  in  Philadelphia.  He 
was  the  sun  in  this  solar  system 


around  which  all  was  to  revolve.  The 
northern  dough-faces  trembled  before 
him  just  as  Felix  before  Paul  when 
he  "reasoned  of  righteousness,  tem 
perance  and  judgment  to  come." 

What  a  blessed  day  was  the  10th 
of  Dec.  1805.  when  it  was  announced 
that  a  man-child  was  born.  We  hail 
the  day  with  thanksgiving  and  glad 
ness.  Let  the  ten  millions  of  Ne 
groes  tell  their  children  and  their 
children's  children  about  the  man  and 
the  day.  We  hail  him  as  the  deliver 
er  of  the  United  States  of  America, 
both  black  and  white,  for  every  slave 
had  one  white  man  chained  to  him. 
Let  all  races,  peoples  and  nations  re 
joice  with  us  for  this  man  whom  GoJ 
has  given  to  the  world. 

Rev.  Scott  declared  the  Boston  Suf 
frage  league  was  organized  to  secure 
the  ballot  and  would  not  disband  un 
til  Colored  Americans  could  vote  as 
freely  in  Mississippi  as  in  Massachu 
setts.  (Applause.) 

Chairman  Scott  then  called  upon  the 
secretary  of  the  Boston  Suffrage 
League's  committee,  Wm.  M.  Trotter, 
who  read  letters  from  Maj.  Wesley  J. 
Furlong,  Mr.  Louis  A,  Fisher,  who 
sang  at  Mr.  Garrison's  funeral,  Rev.  S. 
M.  Crothers,  Geo.  V.  Leverett,  Esq., 
Maj.  Chas.  P.  Bowditch,  Mr.  A.  A.  Esta- 
brook,  the  Wendell  Phillips  Club,  Wen 
dell  Phillips  Garrison,  Joseph  K. 
Hayes,  Jr.,  and  Secretary  Loeb,  reply 
ing  to  the  invitation  that  was  extend 
ed  to  President  Roosevelt  and  regret 
ting  on  behalf  of  the  President  that  of 
ficial  business  would  make  it  impossi 
ble  for  him  to  attend,  and  from  Gov. 
Douglas. 

Mme.  Nellie  Brown  Mitchell,  wife  ot 
Capt.  Charles  L.  Mitchell,  and  one  of 
the  singers  at  the  funeral  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  sang  Kipling's  Recessional,  ac 
companied  on  the  piano  by  Miss  Geor- 
gine  Glover,  and  responded  to  the  en 
core  demanded  with  "Face  to  Face" 
most  feelingly  and  sweetly  rendered. 

At  this  juncture,  the  venerable  an 
ti-slavery  singer,  Mr.  John  W.  Hutch- 
inson,  entered  with  his  wife  and  son 
and  was  given  an  ovation  that  lasted 
several  minutes. 

Next  came  the  Centennial  Ode,  a 
beautiful  poem  composed  for  the  oc 
casion  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Braithwaite,  Bos 
ton's  talented  poet,  and  read  by  the 
author. 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


"THE    LIBERATOR.' 


I. 


'Twas  nineteen  hundred  fateful  years 

ago 
A  slim  young  Syrian  girl  fulfilled  the 

Word, 
And  saw  in  dreams  across  the  windless 

snow 
The  years  acclaim  the  Baby's  voice  she 

heard. 
The  world  enfranchised  from  the  bond 

of  sin 

In  dear  remembrance  keeps  a  festival; 
Wherever  man  may  be  in  hut  or  hall 
The  spirit  of  this  season  enters  in. 
0,  little  Child,  who  smiled  on  Mary's 

knee 
Why  do  the  Nations  bow  and  worship 

Thee? 
The  world  is  yet  a  place  of  wrongs  and 

woes — 
And  Faith  and  Doubt  in  conflict  still 

oppose. 
O,   questioning  Time,  Man's   soul  will 

answer   three: 
Christ  died  to  make  men  free! 


II. 


One  hundred  stirring  years  ago  today 
There  grew  the  mystery  of  another  birth. 
God  heard  the  supplicating  bondmen 

pray 

And  sent  another  saviour  to  the  earth. 
He  grew  a  dreaming  boy  among  his 

hills 
And  wondered  at  the  freedom  Nature 

gave 

To,  winds  and  clouds  and  the  far  echo 
ing  wave; 
But  his  heart  sorrowed  at  his  brother's 

ills, 

Whose  souls  of  a  diviner  essence  made 
Was  yet  less  free  than  soulless  beast 

or  bird. 

He  saw  a  vision  in  his  humble  trade, 
And    his    soul    heard    God    speak    the 

deathless  word; 

And  all  his  thoughts  and  deeds  became 
A  fiery  flame 
To  burn  the  tyranny 
And  set  men  free! 
The  young  republic  from  the  wrecks 

of  war 
Arose    self-destined    to   protect     the 

sovereign   man. 
"We  stared  affixed  as  the  bright  polar 

star 


For   human    rights,"    the     Constitu 
tion  ran. 

And  far  away  across  the  surging  seas 
The    suffering      hordes      of    Europe 

dreamed  of  peace 
And  set  their  visions  westward,  where 

the  States 
Threw    open    wide      the    portals    of 

their  gates 
And  cried  to  all  the  world:    "Come  in, 

come  in, 
Ye  who  are  trodden  by  the  feet  of 

kings, 

Ye  who  are  grievously  taxed,  but  can 
not  win 
A    voice      in    your      own      country's 

councillings; 
Come  hither  where  your  hire  is  your 

tool, 
Where    no    man's      bond — where      all 

may  reign  and  rule." 
The  old  world  listened  at  the  strange 

new    song 
Of  freedom,  beyond  the  sunset  in  the 

sea — 

While  east  and  west  the  plying  slav 
ers  flee — 
And  only  God  and  one  man  knew  the 

thing  was  wrong. 

And  so  he  strove  with  brave,  indig 
nant  speech: — 

A  John  the  Baptist  in  the  wilderness. 
He  saw   the   ideal   freedom     out   of 

reach 
Till   twice   two   million   slaves     could 

rise    and    bless 

Their  nation's   flag.     And  so  the  con 
scienceless 
Soul  of  his  own  country  he  sought 

to  sting- 
To   a,   self-realization   of   its    shame, 
While  the  worst  of  Rome  and  Egypt 

in  its  midst  was  flourishing. 
He  won  a  few  disciples  to  his  cause 
Who  preached  the  fiery  gospel  of  his 

word — 

Sublimely  indifferent  to  the  laws, 
Until  the  indicted  people  stopped  and 

heard. 
"What  prophet   is   this  come     out  of 

Galilee 

To  set  a  people  free 
And  make  as  sifting  sands  the  foun 
dations   of  the  free?" 
So  grew  the  angry  cry 
Of  passions  mounting  high. 
And  they  smote  him  for  the  truth 
of  their   own  iniquity. 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNITERSARV 


III. 

Yea,  they  mobbed  him  and  derided. 
Called  him  traitor  and  a  madmajn — 
Yea,  the  State  and  Church  decided 
Him  a  radical  and  bad  man: 
But  he  put  his  trust  in  God  and  saw 

the  right, 

And   kept   his   great   unswerving   pur 
pose  to  the  end. 
The  end!— When  the  will  of  God  did 

smite, 
And    set    the    house   against    itself   to 

succor  and  defend! 
From  the  most  northern  hamlet  up  in 

Maine 
That   lay   among   the   woods,    echoing 

the  calling  sea, 
And  traveling  like  the  sound  of  windy 

rain 
Southward     where     the     Gulf     winds 

shake  the  Palmetto  tree, 
And  westward  to  the  golden  fields  of 

hope 

Where  some  lone  miner  digs  the  allur 
ing  slope 

Arose  the  sounds  of  war. 
The  billowing  armies  rolling  from  afar 
Of  every  corner  of  each  Northern  state 
Went   into     battle     to     preserve    the 

Union's  fate. 
And  so  two  years  the  thunder  rolled 

and   broke, 

And   Lincoln's   cause   seemed   lost, 
Till  our  great  hero's  voice  rose  up  and 

spoke 
Above  the  din  of     guns     and     sa,bres 

crossed : 
"Unyoke  the  bondmen   if  ye  hope  to 

save 
The  Union  from  an  ignoble  grave." 

IV. 

The  great  Commander  listened,  and 
the  war  became 

A  crusade  in  his  name: 

And  Farragut  and  Grant  and  Sheridan, 

And  that  white-souled,  angel-boy 
Robert  Shaw 

Who  led  such  troops  none  ever  led  be 
fore, 

Went  forth  as  his  apostles  to  the  van, 

And  fought  their  battles  for  the  rights 
of  man, 

And  thereby  saved  the  Union. 

At  last  when  down  beneath  the  horizon 

The  blood-smoked  clouds  of  battle  rol 
led  away, 

And  Grant  had  clasped  in  peace  the 
hand  of  Lee, 

Because  Garrison  had  dared  to  do  and 
say 

Four  million  slaves  stood  free! 


V. 


How    shall    we    name    him    now,    this 

holiest  man? 

Whose  memory  we  gather  to  revere? 
Has  ever  unerring  Nature  in  her  plan 
So  wrought  his  likeness  on  this  trou 
bled  sphere? 

One  with  Mazzini,  but  of  larger  mould, 
One  with   Garibaldi,   yet  more  bold, 
One  with  Cavour,  without  self-seeking 

greed, 
One   with   Kossuth,   but   wider   in   hil 

creed, 
One  with   Cromwell,  yet  more  simply 

wrought, 

Franker  in  act  and  sublimer  in  thought 
One  with  Kosciusko,  but  greater  than 

the  Pole 
Because    he   saw    the    Universal    Race 

within  the  soul. 
One  alone  in  perfect  nature,  heart  and 

soul  apd  mind, 
He  stands  with  Christ,  the  perfect  lover 

of  Mankind. 

Mr.  Charles  H.  Taylor  then  read 
with  magnificent  effect  the  salutatory 
of  The  Liberator.  This  was  followed 
by  a  solo  sung  by  Miss  Genevieve  Lee 
with  much  charm  and  expression  and 
the  audience  called  insistently  for  an 
encore,  to  which  she  responded  with 
a  gracious  bow,  as  the  time  was  pass 
ing.  The  song  was  "Grass  and  Roses," 
Miss  Bertha  Bauman  on  the  piano 
and  Mr.  A.  Portuando  on  the  violin. 

Capt.  Charles  L.  Mitchell,  now  76 
years  old,  who  was  a  compositor  on 
Mr.  Garrison's  paper,  the  Liberator, 
and  wtho  was  an  officer  of  the  55th 
Mass.  Regiment,  stepped  forward  and 
read  the  following  address: 

"The  boon  of  a  noble  human  life  can 
not  be  appropriated  by  any  single  na 
tion  or  race.  It  is  a  part  of  the  com 
monwealth  of  the  world, — a  treasure, 
a  guide  and  an  inspiration."  How  ap 
propriate  is  this  aphorism  in  its  appli 
cation  to  the  life  and  character  of  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison!  During  t,he 
years  of  his  earthly  activity,  he  left 
an  indelible  impress  for  good  in  the 
community  in  which  he  lived.  His 
kindness  of  heart,  his  sympathetic  na 
ture,  his  strong  friendship,  his  mag 
netic  personality,  his  quick  perception, 
his  untiring  energy  and  his  unselfish 
devotion  to  duty  will  ever  remain  as  a 
treasure,  a  guide  and  an  inspiration. 

In  the  activities  of  life  it  seemed  as 
if  he  was  animated  by  a  single  thought, 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


53 


duty,  and  supplementing  this  thought 
by  the  energy  of  his  activity,  he  threw 
into  the  cause  of  anti-slavery  all  of 
the  moral  and  religious  enthusiasm  of 
his  heroic  nature. 

My  acquaintance  with  Mr.  Garrison 
dates  back  to  the  year  1853,  fifty-two 
years  ago,  when  I  came  to  Boston  from 
Hartford,  Conn.,  and  applied  to  the 
Liberator  office,  then  located  at  21 
Cornhill,  for  a  position  as  compositor. 
During  the  time  that  I  was  employed 
on  the  Liberator,  I  know  of  no  one 
whose  friendship  and  esteem  I  value 
so  highly  as  that  of  Mr.  Garrison's. 
He  was  always  cheerful  and  hopeful 
even  in  the  darkest  hours.  His  faith 
in  the  goodness  of  his  cause  and  in  the 
overruling  Providence  of  God  was  so 
absolute  that  he  was  calm  and  cheerful 
alike  under  clear  or  cloudy  skies. 

As  a  type  setter,  I  found  Mr.  Gar 
rison  one  of  the  most  rapid  and  cor 
rect  compositors  that  I  ever  met,  and 
many  of  the  editorials  in  the  Liberator 
were  set  up  by  him  at  the  case  without 
having  first  been  written  out  on  paper. 
Mr.  Garrison's  presence  in  the  printing 
office  was  like  sunshine  in  a  shady 
place.  The  many  annoyances  almost 
inevitable  in  a  printing  office  never 
disturbed  his  serenity.  An  excellent 
printer  ajid  careful  proof-reader,  he 
took  great  pride  in  the  make-up  and 
typographical  accuracy  of  the  Libera 
tor,  and  often  made-up  and  corrected 
the  forms  with  his  own  hands.  On  the 
evening  preceding  publication  day  he 
would  frequently  insist  on  the  printers 
going  home  while  he  remained  until 
a  late  hour  to  prepare  the  forms  fpr 
the  press.  In  very  many  ways  his 
sweet  and  gracious  spirit,  and  his 
thoughtfulness  for  others,  were  made 
manifest,  and  thus  it  was  that  he  en 
deared  himself  to  all. 

I  am  reminded  that  over  twenty-six 
yea,rs  have  passed  since  Mr.  Garrison's 
death,  and  that  the  following  persons 
served  as  pall-bearers  at  the  funeral: 
Wendell  Phillips,  Samuel  May,  Sam 
uel  E.  Sewell,  Robert  P.  Wolcott,  Theo 
dore  T.  Weld,  Oliver  Johnson,  Lewis 
Hayden  and  Charles  L.  Mitchell,  of 
whom  I  am  the  only  survivor.  The 
closing  exercises  of  the  funeral  took 
place  at  the  Forest  Hills  cemetery, 
Wednesday,  May  28th.  It  was  a  per 
fect  spring  afternoon.  The  air  was 
fragrant  with  budding  blossoms,  when 
just  as  the  sun  was  sinking  in  the 
western  horizon,  reflecting  back  its 
serene  beaiuty  upon  the  scene,  seem 
ingly  a  parting  benediction  of  Heaven's 


approving  smile  upon  the  life  work  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison,  that  the 
pall  bearers  tenderly  lowered  all  that 
wa<s  mortal  of  the  great  anti-slavery 
leader  into  the  grave,  whilst  the  quar 
tette  rendered  the  beautiful  selection, 
with  words  commencing,  "I  cannot  al 
ways  trace  the  way.  But  this  I  know 
that  God  is  Love." 

At  the  close  of  Mr.  Mitchell's  ad 
dress  the  chairman  said  that  like 
Chairman  DeMortie  at  the  afternoon 
session,  following  the  old  custom  at 
anti-slavery  meetings,  he  would  have 
a  collection  lifted  for  the  cause  of 
freedom,  meanwhile  the  band  played. 

Then  came  the  climax  and  the 
sensation  of  the  meeting,  indeed 
of  the  whole  celebration,  the  ora 
tion  by  Rev.  Reverdy  C.  Ransom. 
Of  it  the  Boston  Transcript  said  in  its 
news  reports:  "It  was  an  address  by 
a  Negro  orator — a  fitting  close  to  the 
two-day  celebration  of  the  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  centenary — that  stir 
red  a  crowded  audience  of  Negro  men 
and  women  in  Faneuil  Hall  last  even 
ing  as  no  white  speaker  has  been  able 
to  stir  them  throughout  the  whole  se 
ries  of  Garrison  addresses  at  previous 
meetings  yesterday  and  on  Sunday. 
They  cheered,  they  shouted,  they  threw 
their  handkerchiefs  and  hats  into  the 
air.  They  were  for  a  few  minutes  in 
a  tumult  of  enthusiasm  and  fervor, 
and  Rev.  W.  H.  Scott,  who  was  pre 
siding,  had  to  call  on  the  band  to  aid 
him  in  restoring  order.  The  speak 
er  was  Rev.  Dr.  Reverdy  C.  Ransom 
of  the  Charles  Street  A.  M.  E.  church. 
Like  the  other  speakers  he  had  re 
viewed  their  escape  from  the  oppres 
sion  of  the  past,  but  he  told  them 
frankly  of  the  oppression  of  the  pres 
ent,  and  aroused  their  fervor  by  his 
own  vehemence  in  pointing  the  way 
out  of  it." 

The  applause  was  simply  tremend 
ous,  frequently  compelling  the  speaker 
+o  pause  for  several  minutes.  At  its 
close  the  scene  was  indescribable.  Wo 
men  wept,  men  embraced  each  other. 
Guests  on  the  platform  rushed  upon 
the  orator  with  congratulations,  the 
program  was  forgotten  and  only  the 
playing  of  the  band  restored  order  and 
made  it  possible  to  proceed.  Many 
said  no  better  oration  had  ever  been 
delivered  in  Faneuil  Hall  in  its  whole 
history. 

Rev.   R.    C.    Ransom   said   in   full: 


54  ONE   HUNDREDTHS   ANNIVERSARY 

THE  CENTENNIAL  ORATION—  "WM.   LLOYD  GARRISON." 


We  have  assembled  here  tonight  to  celebrate  the  100th  anniversary  of  the 
birth  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison.  Not  far  from  this  city  he  was  born.  With 
in  the  gates  of  this  city,  made  famous  by  some  of  America's  most  famous 
men,  he  spent  more  than  two-thirds  of  his  long  and  eventful  career,  enriching 
its  historv  and  adding  to  the  glory  of  ;ts  renown.  This  place,  of  all  places,  is 
in  keeping  with  the  hour.  It  is  most  appropriate  that  we  should  meet  in  Fan- 
euil  hall,  the  cradle  of  American  liberty,  a  spot  hallowed  and  made  sacred  by 
the  statesmen,  soldiers,  orators,  scholars  and  reformers  who  have  given  ex 
pression  to  burning  truths  and  found  a  hearing  wrthin  these  walls.  Of  all 
people  it  is  most  fitting  that  the  Negro  Americans  of  Boston  should  be  the 
ones  to  take  the  lead  in  demonstrating  to  their  fellow-citizens,  and  to  the 
world,  that  his  high  character  is  cherished  with  affection  and  the  priceless 
value  of  his  unselfish  labors  in  their  behalf,  shall  forever  be  guarded  as  a  sa 
cred  trust. 

Only  succeeding  generations  and  centuries  can  tell  the  carrying  power  of 
a  man's  life.  Some  men  whose  contemporaries  thought  their  title  to  enduring 
fame  secure,  have  not  been  judged  worthy  in  a  later  time  to  have  their  names 
recorded  among  the  makers  of  history.  Some  men  are  noted,  some  are  dis 
tinguished,  some  are  famous,  only  a  few  are  great. 

The  men  whose  deeds  are  born  to  live  in  history  do  not  appear  more  than 
once  or  twice  in  a  century.  Of  the  millions  of  men  who  toil  and  strive,  the 
number  is  not  large,  Whose  perceptible  influence  reaches  beyond  the 
generation  in  which  they  lived.  It  does  not  take  long  to  call  the  roll  of  honor 
of  any  generation,  and  when  this  roll  is  put  to  the  test  of  the  unprejudiced 
scrutiny  of  a  century,  only  a  very  small  and  select  company  have  sufficient 
carrying  power  to  reach  into  a  second  century.  When  the  roll  of  the  centur 
ies  is  called,  we  may  mention  almost  in  a  single  breath,  the  names  which  be 
long  to  the  ages.  Abraham  and  Moses  stand  out  clearly  against  the  horizon 
of  thirty  centuries.  St.  Paul  from  his  Roman  prison,  in  the  days  of  the  Caesars, 
is  still  an  articulate  and  authoritative  voice,  Savonarola  rising  from  the  ashes 
of  his  funeral  pyre  in  the  streets  of  Florence  still  pleads  for  civic  righteous 
ness;  the  sound  of  Martin  Luther's  hammer  nailing  his  thesis  to  the  door  of 
nis  Wittenburg  church,  continues  to  echo  around  the  world;  the  battle  cry  of 
Cromwell's  Ironsides  shouting,  "The  Lord  of  Hosts!"  still  causes  the  tyrant 
and  the  despot  to  tremble  upon  his  throne;  out  of  the  fire  and  blood  of  the 
French  Revolution,  "Liberty  and  Equality"  survive;  Abraham  Lincoln  cornea 
from  the  backwoods  or  Kentucky  and  the  prairies  of  Illinois,  to  receive  the  ap 
proval  of  all  succeeding  generations  of  mankind  for  his  Proclamation  of 
Emancipation;  John  Brown  was  hung  at  Harper's  Ferry  that  his  soul  might 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON  55 

go  marching  on  in  the  tread  of  every  northern  regiment  that  fought  for  the 
"Union  forever;"  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  mobbed  in  the  streets  of  Boston  for 
pleading  the  cause  of  the  slave,  lived  to  see  freedom  triumph,  and  tonight,  a 
century  after  his  birth,  his  name  is  cherished,  not  only  in  America,  but  around 
the  world,  wherever  men  aspire  to  individual  liberty  and  personal  freedom. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  in  earnest.  He  neither  temporized  nor  com 
promised  with  the  enemies  of  human  freedom.  He  gave  up  all  those  comforts, 
honors  and  rewards  which  his  unusual  talents  would  easily  have  won  for  him, 
in  behalf  of  the  cause  of  freedom  which  he  espoused.  He  stood  for  righteous- 
aess  with  all  the  rugged  strength  of  a  prophet.  Like  some  Elijah  of  the  Gil- 
ead  Forests,  he  pleaded  with  this  nation  to  turn  away  from  the  false  gods  it  had 
enshrined  upon  the  altars  of  human  liberty.  Like  some  John  Baptist  crying 
in  the  wilderness,  he  called  upon  this  nation  to  repent  of  its  sin  of  human 
slavery,  and  to  bring  forth  the  fruits  of  its  repentance  in  immediate  emancipa 
tion. 

William  Lloyd  Garrison  was  born  in  Newburyport,  Mass.,  Dec.  10,  Ibu5 
He  came  of  very  poor  and  obscure  parentage.  His  father,  who  was  a  sea 
faring  man,  early  abandoned  the  family  for  causes  supposed  to  relate  to  hia 
intemperance.  The  whole  career  of  Garrison  was  a  struggle  against  poverty. 
His  educational  advantages  were  limited.  He  became  a  printer's  apprentice 
when  quite  a  lad,  which  trade  he  learned.  When  he  launched  his  paper,  "Tho 
Liberator,"  which  was  to  deal  such  destructive  blows  to  slavery,  the  type  was 
set  by  his  own  hands.  The  motto  of  the  "Liberator"  was  "Our  country  is  the 
world,  our  countrymen  mankind." 

Garrison  did  not  worship  the  golden  calf.  His  course  could  not  b« 
changed,  nor  his  opinions  influenced  by  threats  of  violence  or  the  bribe  of 
gold.  Money  could  not  persuade  him  to  open  his  mouth  against  the  truth,  or 
buy  his  silence  from  uncompromising  denunciation  of  the  wrong.  He  put 
manhood  above  money,  humanity  above  race,  the  justice  of  God  above  the  jus 
tices  of  the  supreme  court,  and  conscience  above  the  constitution.  Because, 
he  took  his  stand  upon  New  Testament  righteousness  as  taught  by  Christ,  ne 
was  regarded  as  a  fanatic  in  a  Christian  land.  When  he  declared  that  "he 
determined  at  every  hazard  to  lift  up  a  standard  of  emancipation  in  the  eyes 
of  the  nation,  within  sight  of  Bunker  Hill  and  in  the  birthplace  of  liberty,"  lie 
was  regarded  as  a  public  enemy,  in  a  nation  conceived  in  liberty  and  dedi 
cated  to  freedom. 

Garrison  drew  his  arguments  from  the  Bible  and  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  only  to  be  jeered  as  a  wild  enthusiast.  He  would  not  retreat  a  sin 
gle  inch  from  the  straight  path  of  liberty  and  justice.  He  refused  to  purchase 
peace  at  the  price  of  freedom.  He  would  not  drift  with  the  current  of  the  pub 
lic  opinion  of  his  day.  His  course  was  up  stream;  his  battle  against  the  tiae 
He  undertook  to  create  a  right  public  sentiment  on  the  question  of  freedom,  a 


56  ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

task  as  great  as  it  was  difficult.  Garrison  thundered  warnings  to  arouse  the 
public  conscience,  before  the  lightnings  of  his  righteous  wrath  and  the  shafts 
of  his  invincible  logic  wounded  the  defenders  of  slavery  in  all  the  vulnerable 
joints  of  their  armor.  He  declared:  "Let  southern  oppressors  tremble — let 
their  secret  abettors  tremble;  let  their  northern  apologists  tremble;  let  all  the 
enemies  of  the  persecuted  blacks  tremble."  For  such  utterances  as  these  his 
name  throughout  the  nation  became  one  of  obloquy  and  reproach. 

He  was  not  bound  to  the  slave  by  the  ties  of  race,  but  by  the  bond  of 
common  humanity  which  he  considered  a  stronger  tie.  In  his  struggle  for 
freedom  there  was  no  hope  of  personal  gain;  he  deliberately  chose  the  path 
way  of  poverty  and  financial  loss.  There  was  set  before  his  eyes  no  prospect 
of  honor,  no  pathways  leading  to  promotion,  no  voice  of  popular  approval, 
save  tiiat  of  his  conscience  and  his  Gou.  His  friends  and  neighbors  looked  up 
on  him  as  one  who  brought  a  stigma  upon  the  fair  name  of  the  city  in  which 
he  lived.  The  business  interests  regarded  him  as  an  influence  which  dis 
turbed  and  injured  the  relations  of  commerce  and  of  trade;  the  church  op 
posed  him;  the  press  denounced  him;  the  state  regarded  him  as  an  enemy  of 
the,  established  order;  the  North  repudiated  him;  the  South  burned  him  in  ef 
figy.  Yet  almost  single-handed  and  alone,  Garrison  continued  to  fight  on.  de 
claring  that  "his  reliance  for  the  deliverance  of  the  oppressed  universally  is 
upon  the  nature  of  man,  the  inherent  wrongfulness  of  oppression,  the  power 
of  truth,  and  the  omnipotence  of  God."  After  the  greatest  civil  war  that  ever 
immersed  a  nation  in  a  baptism  of  blood  and  tears,  Garrison,  unlike  most  re 
formers,  lived  to  see  the  triumph  of  the  cause  for  which  he  fought  and  every 
Blave,  not  only  acknowledged  as  a  tree  man,  out  clothed  with  the  dignity  ana 
powers  of  American  citizenship.  William  Lloyd  Garrison  has  passed  from  us, 
tout  the  monumental  character  of  his  work  and  the  influence  of  his  life  shall 
never  perish.  While  there  are  wrongs  to  be  righted;  despots  to  be  attacked; 
oppressors  to  be  overthrown;  peace  to  find  and  advocate,  and  freedom  a 
voice,  the  name  of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  will  live. 

Those  who  would  honor  Garrison  and  perpetuate  his  memory  and  his 
fame,  must  meet  the  problems  that  confront  them  with  the  same  courage  and 
tn  the  same  uncompromising  spirit  that  Garrison  met  the  burning  questions  it 
the  day.  Those  who  would  honor  Garrison  in  one  breath,  while  compromising 
our  manhood  and  advocating  the  surrender  of  our  political  rights  in  another, 
not  only  dishonor  his  memory,  not  only  trample  the  flag  of  our  country  witn 
violent  and  unholy  feet,  but  they  spit  upon  the  grave  which  holds  the  sacrefi 
dust  of  this  chiefest  of  the  apostles  of  freedom. 

The  status  of  the  Negro  in  this  country  was  not  settled  by  emancipation; 
the  15th  amendment  to  the  constitution  which  it  was  confidently  beiieved 
would  clothe  him  forever  with  political  influence  and  power,  is  more  bitterly 
opposed  today  than  it  was  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago.  The  place  which  the 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON  57 

Negro  is  to  occupy  is  still  a  vital  and  burning  question.  The  newspaper  press 
and  magazines  are  full  of  it;  literature  veils  its  discussion  of  the  theme  under 
the  guise  of  romance;  political  campaigns  are  waged  with  this  question  as  a 
paramount  issue;  it  is  written  into  the  national  platform  of  great  political  par 
ties;  it  tinges  legislation;  it  has  invaded  the  domain  of  dramatic  art,  until  to 
day,  it  is  enacted  upon  the  stage;  philanthropy,  scholarship  and  religion  are, 
each  from  their  point  of  view,  more  industriously  engaged  in  its  solution  than 
they  have  been  in  any  previous  generation.  If  the  life  and  labors  of  Garrisoiv 
and  the  illustrious  men  and  women  who  stood  with  him,  have  a  message  for 
the  present,  we  should  seek  to  interpret  its  meaning  and  lay  the  lesson  to 
heart. 

The  scenes  have  shifted,  but  the  stage  is  the  same;  the  leading  characters 
have  not  changed.  We  still  have  with  us  powerful  influences  trying  to  keep 
the  Negro  down  by  unjust  and  humiliating  legislation  and  degrading  treat 
ment;  while  on  the  other  hand,  the  Negro  and  his  friends  are  still  contending 
for  the  same  privileges  and  opportunities  that  are  freely  accorded  to  other  cit 
izens  whose  skins  do  not  happen  to  be  black.  We,  of  this  nation,  are  slow  to 
learn  the  lessons  taught  by  history;  the  passions  which  feed  on  prejudice  and 
tyranny  can  neither  be  mollified  nor  checked  by  subjection,  surrender  or  com 
promise.  Self-appointed  representatives  of  the  Negro,  his  enemies  and  his 
would-be  friends  are  pointing  to  many  diverse  paths,  each  claiming  that  the 
one  he  has  marked  for  his  feet  is  the  proper  one  in  wiMch  he  should  walk. 
There  is  but  one  direction  in  which  the  Negro  should  steadfastly  look  and  but 
one  path  in  which  he  should  firmly  plant  his  feet — that  is  toward  the  realiza 
tion  of  complete  manhood  and  equality,  and  the  full  justice  that  belongs  to  an 
American  citizen  clothed  with  all  of  his  constitutional  power 

This  is  a  crucial  hour  for  the  Negro  American;  men  are  seeking  today  to 
fix  his  industrial,  political  and  social  status  under  freedom,  as  completely  as 
they  did  under  slavery.  As  this  nation  continued  unstable,  so  long  as  it  rest 
ed  upon  the  foundation  stones  of  slavery,  so  will  it  remain  insecure  as  long 
as  one-eighth  of  its  citizens  can  be  openly  shorn  of  political  power,  while 
confessedly  they  are  denied  "life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit  of  happiness."  We 
nave  no  animosity  against  the  South  or  against  southern  people.  We  would 
see  the  wounds  left  by  the  war  of  the  rebellion  healed;  but  \ve  would  have 
them  healed  so  effectually  that  they  could  not  be  trodden  upon  and  made  to 
bleed  afresh  by  inhuman  barbarities  and  unjust  legislation;  we  woulcf  nave 
the  wounds  of  this  nation  bound  up  by  the  hands  of  those  who  are  friendly  to 
the  patient,  so  that  they  might  not  remain  a  political  running  sore.  We  would 
have  the  bitter  memories  of  the  war  effaced,  but  they  cannot  fade  while  the 
spirit  of  slavery  walks  before  the  nation  in  a  new  disguise.  We,  too,  would 
nave  a  reunited  country;  but  we  would  have  the  reunion  to  include  not  only 
white  men  North  and  South,  but  a  union  so  endearing,  because  so  just,  as  to 


58  ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 

embrace  all  of  our  fellow-countrymen  regardless  of  section  or  of  race. 
President  Roosevelt  in  one  of  his  addresses  to  the  Colored  people,  while 
on  his  recent  southern  tour,  has  advised  us  that  instead  of  agitating  for  our 
rights,  we  should  apply  ourselves  to  the  fulfilment  of  our  duties.  This  is  no 
uew  doctrine;  it  was  taught  by  Jesus  Christ  who  never  once  discussed  the  doc- 
crme  of  human  rights.  Christ  spoke  of  duties.  Joseph  Mazzini,  tna 
great  Italian  patriot,  taught  his  fellow-countrymen  that  the  way  to  secure  their 
liberation  was  through  the  fulfilment  of  their  duties.  By  the  fulfilment  of 
duty,  Mazzini  meant  something  quite  different  from  what  President  Roosevelt 
seems  to  nave  had  in  mind.  He  taught  that  it  was  not  simply  a  man's  right 
to  be  free,  but  that  it  was  his  duty,  because  God  had  created  him  to  enjoy  iree- 
dom,  and  therefore,  he  would  make  himself  an  instrument  of  thwarting  tne 
ends  of  his  Creator  if  he  permitted  without  resistence  his  freedom  to  be  taken 
awa> 

It  is  not  a  man's  right,  it  is  his  duty  to  support  and  defend  his  family  and 
his  home;  he  should  therefore  resist  any  influence  exerted  to  prevent  him 
from  maintaining  them  in  comfort;  while  he  should  oppose  with  his  life  the 
invader  or  despoiler  of  his  home.  God  had  created  man  with  a  mind  capable 
of  infinite  development  and  growth;  it  is  not,  therefore,  a  man's  right,  it  is 
his  duty  to  improve  his  mind  and  to  educate  his  children;  he  should  not  there- 
tore,  submit  to  conditions  which  would  compel  them  to  grow  up  in  ignorance. 
Man  belongs  to  society;  it  is  his  duty  to  make  his  personal  contribution  of  the 
best  that  is  within  him  to  the  common  good;  he  can  do  this  only  as  he  is  giv 
en  opportunity  to  freely  associate  with  his  fellowman.  He  should,  therefore, 
seek  to  overthrow  the  artificial  social  barriers  which  would  intervene  to  sep 
arate  him  from  realizing  the  highest  find  best  there  is  within  him  by  freedom 
of  association.  It  is  a  man's  duty  to  be  loyal  to  his  country  and  his  flag,  but 
when  his  country  becomes  a  land  of  oppression  and  his  flag  an  emblem  of  in 
justice  and  wrong,  it  becomes  as  much  his  duty  to  attack  the  enemies  within 
the  nation  as  to  resist  the  foreign  invader.  Tyrants  and  tyranny  everywhere 
should  be  attacked  and  overthrown. 

This  is  a  period  of  transition  in  the  relations  of  the  Negro  to  this  nation. 
The  question  which  America  is  trying  to  answer,  and  which  it  must  soon  def 
initely  settle  is  this:  What  kind  of  Negroes  ao  the  American  people  want? 
Thai  they  must  have  the  Negro  in  some  relation  is  no  longer  a  question  01 
serious  debate.  The  Negro  is  here  10,000,000  strong,  and  for  weal  or  woe,  he 
is  here  to  stay — he  is  here  to  remain  forever.  In  the  government  he  is  a  po 
litical  factor;  in  education  and  in  wealth  he  is  leaping  forward  with  giant 
strides;  he  counts  his  taxable  property  by  the  millions,  his  educated  men  and 
women  by  the  scores  of  thousands;  in  the  bouth  he  is  the  backbone  of  Indus 
try;  in  every  phase  of  American  life  his  presence  may  be  noted;  he  is  also  as 
rnoroughly  imbued  with  American  principles  and  ideals  as  any  class  or  people 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON  59 

beneath  our  flag.  When  Garrison  started  his  fight  for  freedom,  it  was  tne 
prevailing  sentiment  that  the  Negro  could  have  no  place  in  this  country  save 
that  of  a  slave,  but  he  has  proven  nimself  to  be  more  valuable  as  a  free  man 
than  as  a  slave.  What  kind  of  Negroes  do  the  American  people  want?  Do 
they  want  a  voteless  Negro  in  a  republic  founded  upon  universal  suffrage? 
Do  they  want  a  Negro  who  shall  not  be  permitted  to  participate  in  the  govern 
ment  which  he  must  support  with  his  treasure  and  defend  with  his  blood?  Do 
they  want  a  Negro  who  shall  consent  to  be  set  apart  as  forming  a  distinct  in 
dustrial  class,  permitted  to  rise  no  higher  than  the  level  of  surfs  or  peasants? 
Do  they  want  a  Negro  who  shall  accept  an  interior  social  position,  not  as  a 
degradation,  but  as  the  just  operation  of  the  laws  of  caste  based  upon  color? 
Do  they  want  a  Negro  who  will  avoid  friction  between  the  races  by  consenting 
to  occupy  the  place  to  which  white  men  may  choose  to  assign  him?  What 
kind  of  a  Negro  do  the  American  people  want?  Do  they  want  a  Negro  who 
will  accept  the  doctrine,  that  however  high  he  may  rise  in  the  scale  of  char 
acter,  wealth  and  education,  he  may  never  hope  to  associate  as  an  equal  with 
white  men?  Do  white  men  believe  that  10,000,000  blacks,  after  having  im 
bibed  the  spirit  of  American  institutions,  and  having  exercised  the  rights  of 
free  men  for  more  tnan  a  generation,  will  ever  accept  a  place  of  permanent 
inferiority  in  the  republic?  Taught  by  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  sus 
tained  by  the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  enlightened  by  the  education 
of  our  schools,  this  nation  can  no  more  resist  the  advancing  tread  of  the  hosts 
of  the  oncoming  blacks,  than  it  can  bind  the  stars  or  halt  the  resistless  mo 
tion  of  the  tide 

The  answer  which  the  American  people  may  give  to  the  question  pro 
posed  cannot  be  final.  There  is  another  question  of  greater  importance  which 
must  be  answered  by  the  Negro,  and  by  the  Negro  alone.  What  kind  of  an 
American  does  the  Negro  intend  to  be?  The  answer  to  this  question  he  must 
seek  and  find  in  every  field  of  human  activity  and  endeavor.  First,  he  must 
answer  it  by  negation.  He  does  not  intend  to  be  an  alien  in  the  land  of  his 
birth  nor  an  outcast  in  the  home  of  his  fathers.  He  will  not  consent  to  hii 
elimination  as  a  political  factor;  he  will  refuse  to  camp  forever  on  the  borders 
of  the  industrial  world;  as  an  American  he  will  consider  that  his  destiny  is 
united  by  indissoluble  bonds  with  the  destiny  of  America  forever;  he  will  strive 
less  to  be  a  great  Negro  in  this  republic  and  more  to  be  an  influential  and  use 
ful  American.  As  intelligence  is  one  of  the  chief  safeguards  of  the  republic, 
he  will  educate  his  children.  Knowing  that  a  people  cannot  perish  whose  mor 
als  are  above  reproach,  he  will  ally  himself  on  the  side  of  the  forces  of  right 
eousness;  having  been  the  object  of  injustice  and  wrong,  he  will  be  the  foe  ol 
anarchy  and  the  advocate  of  the  supremacy  of  law.  As  an  American  citizen, 
he  will  allow  no  man  to  protest  his  title,  either  at  home  or  abroad.  He  wili 
insist  more  and  more,  not  only  upon  voting,  but  upon  being  voted  for  to  oc- 


60  ONE    HUNDREDTH   ANNIVERSARY 

cupy  any  position  within  the  gift  of  the  nation.  As  an  American  whose  title 
to  citizenship  is  without  a  blemish  or  flaw,  he  will  resist  without  compromise 
every  law  upon  the  statute  books,  which  is  aimed  at  his  degradation  as  a  hu- 
aian  being  and  humiliation  as  a  citizen.  He  will  be  no  less  ambitious  and  as 
piring  than  his  fellow-countrymen;  he  will  assert  himself,  not  as  a  Negro,  but 
as  a  man;  he  will  beat  no  retreat  in  the  face  of  his  enemies  and  opposers;  his 
gifted  sons  and  daughters,  children  of  genius  who  may  be  born  to  him,  will 
make  their  contribution  to  the  progress  of  humanity  on  these  shores,  accept 
ing  nothing  but  the  honors  and  rewards  that  belong  to  merit.  What  kind  of 
an  American  does  rue  Negro  intend  to  be?  He  intends  to  be  an  American  who 
will  never  mar  the  image  of  God,  reproach  the  dignity  of  his  manhood,  or  tar 
nish  the  fair  title  of  his  citizenship,  by  apologizing  to  men  or  angels  for  asso 
ciating  as  an  equal,  with  some  other  American  who  does  not  happen  to  be 
mack.  He  will  place  the  love  of  country  above  the  love  of  race;  he  will  con 
sider  no  task  too  difficult,  no  sacrifice  too  great,  in  his  effort  to  emancipate  his 
country  from  the  unChristlike  feelings  of  race  hatred  and  the  American  bond 
age  of  prejudice.  There  is  nothing  that  injustice  so  much  respects,  that  Amer 
icans  so  much  admire,  and  the  world  so  much  applauds,  as  a  man  who  stands 
erect  like  a  man,  has  the  courage  to  speak  in  the  tones  of  a  man,  and  to  fear 
lessly  act  a  man's  part. 

There  are  two  views  of  the  Negro  question  now  at  last  clearly  delineu. 
One  is  that  the  Negro  should  stoop  to  conquer:  that  he  should  accept  in  si 
lence  the  denial  of  his  political  rights;  that  he  should  not  brave 
the  displeasure  of  white  men  by  protesting  ^'lien  he  is  segregated  in 
humiliating  ways  upon  the  public  carriers  and  in  places  of  pub 
lic  entertainment;  that  he  may  educate  his  children,  buy  land 
and  save  money;  but  he  must  not  insist  upon  his  children  tak 
ing  their  place  in  the  body  politic  to  which  their  character  and  intelligence  en 
title  them;  he  must  not  insist  on  ruling  the  land  which  he  owns  or  farms;  he 
must  have  no  voice  as  to  how  the  money  he  has  accumulated  is  to  be  expended 
through  taxation  and  the  various  forms  of  public  improvement.  There  are 
others  who  believe  that  the  Negro  owes  this  nation  no  apology  for  his  pres 
ence  in  the  United  States;  that  being  black  he  is  still  no  less  a  man;  that  he 
should  not  yield  one  syllable  of  his  title  to  American  citizenship;  that  he 
should  refuse  to  be  assigned  to  an  inferior  plane  by  his  fellow-countrymen; 
thougn  roes  conspire  against  him  and  powerful  friends  desert  him,  he  should 
refuse  to  abdicate  his  sovereignty  as  a  citizen,  and  to  lay  down  his  honor  as  a 
man.  (Wild  applause,  cries  of  "Ransom,  Ransom."  cneerlng.) 

ff  Americans  become  surfeited  with  wealth,  haughty  with  the  boasting 
prme  01  race  superiority,  morally  corrupt  in  the  high  places  oi  honor  and  of 
trust,  enervated  through  the  pursuit  of  pleasure,  or  the  political  bondmen  of 
some  strong  man  plotting  to  seize  the  reins  of  power,  the  Negro  American  will 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON  61 

continue  his  steadfast  devotion  to  the  flag,  and  the  unyielding  assertion  of  his 
constitutional  rights,  that  "this  government  of  the  people,  for  the  people  and 
by  the  people,  may  not  perish  from  the  earth." 

it  is  so  marvelous  as  to  be  like  a  miracle  of  God,  to  behold  the  transform 
ation  that  has  taken  place  in  the  position  of  the  Negro  in  this  land  since  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison  first  saw  the  light  a  century  ago.  When  the  Negro  had 
no  voice,  Garrison  pleaded  his  cause;  tonight  the  descendants  of  the  slave  stand 
in  Faneuil  hall,  while  from  ocean  to  ocean,  every  foot  of  American  soil  is  ded 
icated  to  freedom.  The  Negro  American  has  found  his  voice;  he  is  able  to 
speak  for  himself;  he  stands  upon  this  famous  platform  here  and  thinks  it  no 
presumption  to  declare  that  he  seeks  nothing  more,  and  will  be  satisfied  with 
nothing  less  than  the  full  measure  of  American  citizenshi. 

I  feel  inspired  tonight.  The  spirits  of  the  champions  of  freedom  hover 
near.  High  above  the  stars,  Lincoln  and  Garrison,  Sumner  and  Phillips,  Doug 
lass  and  Lovejoy,  look  down  to  behold  their  prayers  answered,  their  labors  re 
warded,  and  their  prophecies  fulfilled.  They  were  patriots;  the  true  saviours 
of  a  nation  that  esteemed  them  not.  They  have  left  us  a  priceless  heritage. 
Is  there  to  be  found  among  us  now  one  who  would  so  dishonor  the  memory  of 
these  sainted  dead;  one  so  lost  to  love  of  country  and  loyalty  to  his  race,  as 
to  offer  to  sell  our  birthright  for  a  mess  of  pottage?  When  we  were  slaves, 
Garrison  labored  to  make  us  free;  when  our  manhood  was  denied,  he  pro 
claimed  it.  Shall  we  in  the  day  of  freedom  be  less  loyal  to  our  country  and 
true  to  ourselves  than  were  the  friends  who  stood  for  us  in  our  night  of  woe? 
Many  victories  have  been  won  for  us;  there  are  still  greater  victories  we  must 
win  for  ourselves.  The  proclamation  of  freedom  and  the  bestowal  of  citizen 
ship  were  not  the  ultimate  goal  we  started  out  to  reach,  they  were  but  the  be 
ginnings  of  progress.  We,  of  this  generation,  must  so  act  our  part  that  a  cen 
tury  hence,  our  children  and  our  children's  children  may  honor  our  memory 
and  be  inspired  to  press  on  as  they  receive  from  us  untarnished  the  banner  of 
freedom,  of  manhood  and  of  equality  among  men. 

The  Negro  went  aboard  the  ship  of  state  when  she  was  first  launched  up 
on  the  uncertain  waters  of  our  national  existence.  He  booked  as  a  through 
passenger  until  she  should  reach  "the  utmost  sea-mark  of  her  farthest  sail." 
When  those  in  command  treated  him  with  injustice  and  brutality,  he  did  not 
mutiny  or  rebel;  when  placed  before  the  mast  as  a  lookout,  he  did  not  fall 
asleep  at  his  post.  He  has  helped  to  keep  her  from  being  wrecked  upon  the 
rocks  of  treachery;  he  has  imperiled  his  life  by  standing  manfully  to  his  task 
while  she  outrode  the  fury  of  of  a  threatening  sea;  when  the  pirate  craft  of 
rebellion  bore  down  upon  her  and  sought  to  place  the  black  flag  of  disunion  at 
her  masthead,  he  was  one  of  the  first  to  respond  when  the  captain  called  all 
hands  up  on  deck.  If  the  enemies  of  liberty  should  ever  again  attempt  to 
wreck  our  ship  of  state,  the  Negro  American  will  stand  by  the  guns;  he  will 


62 


ONE    HfNDRKDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


not  desert  her  when  she  is  sinking,  but  with  the  principles  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence  nailed  to  the  masthead,  with  the  nag  afloat,  he  would  prefer 
lather  to  perish  with  her  than  to  be  numbered  among  those  who  deserted  her 
when  assailed  by  an  overwhelming  foe.  If  she  weathers  the  storms  that  beat 
upon  her,  outsails  the  enemies  that  pursue  her,  avoids  the  rocks  that  threaten 
her,  and  anchors  at  last  in  the  port  of  her  desired  haven,  black  Americans  and 
white  Americans  locked  together  in  brotherly  embrace,  will  pledge  each  other 
to  remain  aboard  forever  on  terms  of  equality,  because  they  shall  have  learned 
by  experience  that  neither  one  of  them  can  be  saved,  except  they  thus  abide  in 
the  ship. 

For  the  present  our  strivings  are  not  in  vain.  The  injustice  that  leans 
upon  the  arm  of  oppression  for  support  must  fall;  truth  perverted  or  sup 
pressed  gains  in  momentum  while  it  waits;  generations  may  perish,  but  hu 
manity  will  survive;  out  of  the  present  conflict  of  opinion  and  the  differences 
of  race  and  color  that  divide,  once  the  tides  of  immigration  have  ceased  to  flow 
to  our  shores,  this  nation  will  evolve  a  people  who  shall  be  one  in  purpose,  one 
In  spirit,  one  in  destiny — a  composite  American  by  the  co-mingling  of  blood. 


When  the  applause  following  the 
oration  had  subsided,  Company  L  filed 
down  from  the  gallery  and  marched 
out  through  the  center  aisle  with  the 
band  playing  and  the  audience  ap 
plauding. 

Mrs.  Olivia  Ward  Bush  then  read  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  and  the 
13th  Amendment,  as  showing  the  end 
of  the  Liberator's  work,  its  publication 
being  ended  at  that  time. 

After  this  Mr.  Edward  Everett 
Brown  made  an  impassioned  short  ad 
dress.  He  said  in  part: 

Mr.  President  and  Fellow  Citizens: 
It  is  fitting  that  we  should  assemble  in 
historic  Faneuil  Hall,  where  the  great 
battles  of  our  race  and  humanity  have 
been  fought,  to  pay  our  tribute  of  love 
and  respect  to  the  sainted  memory  of 
that  grand,  fearless  uncompromising 
defender  and  champion  of  the  rights 
of  man,  justice  and  equality,  William 
Lloyd  Garrison. 

No  man  who  truly  loves  his  race 
and  is  interested  in  its  highest  so 
cial,  commercial,  political,  intellectual 
and  moral  advancement,  could  fail  to 
respond  to  the  call  of  duty  in  such  a 
sacred  cause  as  we  have  met  tonight 
to  honor  and  draw  lessons  of  inspira 
tion  from  his  noble  life  and  self-sac 
rificing  character. 

The  Negroes  of  America  owe  more 
to  Garrison  than  to  any  other  man 
who  lived  during  that  stormy  period 
that  tried  men's  souls. 


He  was  hated,  persecuted  and  mob 
bed  for  us,  but  his  courage  never  failed 
him,  never  for  a  moment  did  he  lose 
interest  in  the  mighty  cause  of  human 
freedom  and  liberty  for  the  poor,  de 
spised  black  slave  to  whom  he  had 
consecrated  his  life. 

If  it  had  not  been  for  Garrison  we 
would  probably  have  never  had  the 
eloquent  Phillips  pleading  our  cause 
at  the  great  bar  of  public  opinion.  Be 
cause  it  was  that  disgraceful  scene 
witnessed  by  Phillips  in  Court  street, 
Boston  in  1835,  when  Garrison  was  be 
ing  dragged  through  the  streets  by 
the  Broadcloth  mob  that  enlisted  the 
sympathy  of  Phillips  and  from  that  mo 
ment  he  became  a  convert  to  the  anti- 
slavery  cause. 

In  spite  of  the  sacrifices  of  blood  and 
treasure,  caused  by  the  great  war  of 
the  rebellion,  the  Negro  citizens  of 
America  are  still  the  victims  of  unjust 
persecution;  race  hatred  and  discrimi 
nation,  disfranchised,  robbed  of  the 
ballot,  that  priceless  heritage  of  Ameri 
can  citizenship,  denied  the  right  of 
trial  by  jury,  shot  down,  lynched  and 
murdered  without  even  the  form  of  a 
trial. 

I  believe  that  a  sentiment  will  go 
forth  from  this  historic  hall  that  will 
arouse  the  seared  .hearts,  and  con 
sciences  of  the  American  people  to  give 
the  Negro  fair  play,  justice,  equal  op 
portunity,  equal  rights  under  the  sacred 
constitution  of  our  country. 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON. 


The  chairman  of  the  committee  on 
Resolutions,  Mr.  T.  P.Taylor,  called 
upon  Rev.  J.  W.  Hill,  secretary  of  the 
committee  on  resolutions,  to  read 
them,  before  doing  so  narrating  brief 
ly  his  experience  in  helping  save  Wen 
dell  Phillips  from  the  mob  at  the 
Smith  Court  Synagogue  in  1860. 

The   Resolutions  Adopted. 

Whereas: — On  this  memorable 
occasion  we  are  filled  with  grati 
tude  to  God,  who  hath  given  us 
a  grand  opportunity  to  unite 
with  a  host  of  friends  throughout  the 
country  in  the  observance  of  the  One 
Hundredth  Anniversary  of  the  birth 
of  the  Pioneer  in  the  work  of  the 
abolition  of  American  slavery,  William 
Lloyd  Garrison;  and  are  glad  to  re 
call  to  memory  the  history  of  one 
who  when  a  young  man  of  twenty-four 
years,  thought  deeply  on  the  subject 
of  human  oppression  and  decided  that 
the  curse  of  American  slavery  should 
be  removed  from  the  land.  Mr.  Garri 
son  became  inspired  with  a  strong  de 
sire  and  determination  to  lift  his  voice 
and  wield  his  pen  in  behalf  of  the 
bondman,  and  with  courage  to  go  forth 
almost  single  handed  to  demand  for 
the  enslaved  race,  "Immediate  and  Un 
conditional  Emancipation."  With  a 
strong  faith  in  the  possibility  of  suc 
cess  he  began  his  life  work  fearing 
neither  opposition  nor  danger  that 
threatened  him  all  the  way. 

We  are  reminded,  a(s  we  reverently 
tread  the  path  over  which  the  excited 
mob  dragged  his  body,  that  Mr.  Garri 
son  bore  with  calm  fortitude  the  insult, 
still  believing  that  his  cause  was  just, 
and  that  eventually  "right  would  tri 
umph  over  might."  We  will  gladly  re 
member  that  his  love  of  country  and 
desire  for  Universal  Freedom,  led  him 
to  place  on  the  pages  of  the  earliest 
edition  of  the  "Liberator,"  his  motto: 
"Our  country  is  the  world;  our  coun 
trymen  are  all  mankind,"  and  to  be 
known  as  a  foe  to  every  form  of  op 
pression.  Therefore  be  it 

Resolved: — That,  as  we  renew 
memories  of  the  anti-slavery 
struggle,  we  rejoice  that  to 
our  oppressed  race  as  a  grand  re 
sult  of  the  agitation  the  Day  of  Free 
dom  dawned,  the  prison  doors  were 
opened,  the  chains  loosened  and  the 
oppressed  walked  forth  to  freedom 
forever  on  American  soil. 

Resolved: — That  we  gratefully  record 
anew  appreciation  of  the  labors  of 
William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  the  host 


of  earnest  men  and  women  who,  with 
their  true  friend  and  leader,  worked 
incessantly  during  the  dark  hours  of 
slavery  and  lived  to  hail  with  joy  the 
sending  over  the  land  the  Emancipa 
tion  Proclamation  giving  freedom  to 
four  millions  of  bondmen,  who  took 
up  the  joyful  news  and  shouted  to  all 
around  the  welcome  words,  "We're 
free,  we're  free." 

Resolved: — That  we  will  often  bring 
to  the  young  people  the  memory  of  the 
past,  and  lead  them  to  trace  the  his 
tory  of  the  Negro-American,  and  from 
year  to  year  record  the  wonderful  pro 
gress  made  since  the  day  that  civil 
and  politicaj  opportunity  was  given 
them.  It  shall  be  our  aim  to  place  in 
every  household  a  memento  of  this 
occasion,  bearing  a  likeness  of  Wil 
liam  Lloyd  Garrison,  with  many  of 
his  sayings  that  shajl  be  remembered 
by  succeeding  generations. 

Resolved:— That  we  deem  this  a  fit 
ting  time  to  bring  to  the  wives  and 
mothers  of  our  country  the  beautiful 
example  of  fidelity  as  seen  in  the  life 
of  the  sainted  companion  of  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  who  encouraged  him  in  his  work 
and  proved  herself  a  true  helpmate, 
sending  him  in  the  midst  of  his  dark 
est  hours  while  Sheltered  in  the  jail 
from  the  fury  of  an  angry  mob,  the 
message  "I  know  my  husband  will  not 
betray  his  principles,"  this  too,  when  a 
young  wife  and  mother,  surrounded 
by  a  little  family  that  missed  the  lov 
ing  presence  of  a  devoted  husbaoid  and 
father. 

Resolved:— That  we  urge  the 
wives  and  mothers  of  our  land 
to  impress  on  the  minds  of 
the  young  people  the  lessons  of  moral 
courage  and  adherence  to  good  princi 
ples  that  shall  prepare  them  for  the 
duties  of  life;  making  them  to  stand 
for  the  Right  at  all  times,  and  that  we 
consider  it  our  duty  to  encourage  them 
in  their  efforts  by  our  renewed  deter 
mination  to  uplift  the  race  with  whom 
we  are  identified, — until  they  shall 
overcome  all  obstacles  to  success,  and 
enjoy  the  rights  that  belong  to  every 
citizen  of  the  United  States.  And 
finally  be  it 

Resolved:  That  we  reconsecrate 
ourselves  to  the  great  ideal  of  Free 
dom,  for  which  Garrison  suffered  im 
prisonment  and  even  risked  his  life 
and  reaffirm  our  belief  in  his  method 
of  destroying  evil  by  exposing  its  hide 
ous  nature  and  denouncing  its  perpe 
trators,  being  as  he  was,  "as  harsh  as 
truth  and  as  uncompromising  as  jus- 


64 


ONE    HUNDREDTHS    ANNIVERSARY 


tice;"  and,  with  millions  of  our  fellows 
in  the  new  bondage  of  peonage  and  of 
disfranchisement  in  the  south,  we 
pledge  ourselves  to  seek  their  freedom 
through  agitation,  adopting  as  our 
motto  his  words,  "I  am  in  earnest;  I 
will  not  equivocate;  I  will  not  retreat 
a  single  inch,  and  I  will  be  heard." 

Then  Mr.  William  Lloyd  Garrison, 
Jr.,  a  grandson  of  the  Abolitionist, 
made  a  brief  and  witty  speech  which 
delighted  the  audience,  especially  his 
reference  to  William  Lloyd,  the  4th. 

Mr.  Wm.  Lloyd  Garison,  Jr.,  said  in 
part: — It  would  be  presumptuous  in 
me  to  attempt  to  speak  after  the  mag 
nificent  and  convincing  oration  of  the 
speaker  of  the  evening.  (Applause.) 

This  I  do  wish  to  say.  All  Garri 
sons  love  liberty.  (Applause.)  All 
Garrisons  are  firmly  convinced  of  the 
certain  advancement  of  the  Colored 
race  in  America  to  its  high  destiny. 
(Applause).  To  give  an  earnest  of  my 
belief  in  my  tradition  I  want  to  tell 
you  that  I  have  taken  care  to  perpet 
uate  the  name  of  the  man  whose 
anniversary  you  celebrate  tonight  in 
perhaps  the  surest  way.  That  name 
is  now  borne  by  my  4-year-old  boy 
(Laughter)  who  promises,  judging 
from  his  present  activity  to  become 
a  greater  agitator  than  even  his 
great  grand  sire. 

At  the  conclusion  of  these  re 
marks  the  applause  and  mirth  lasted 
several  minutes  and  did  not  subside 
until,  on  request,  Mrs.  Garrison,  the 
mother  of  the  baby,  stood  up  and 
was  seen. 

The  great  crowd  had  remained 
though  the  hour  was  late.  C.  G.  Mor 
gan  had  declined  to  speak  on  that  ac 
count.  Then  came  up  a  cry  of  "Hutch- 
inson,"  which  showed  what  the  audi 
ence  wanted.  The  venerable  singer 
was  greeted  with  three  rousing  cheers. 
He  made  a  brief  speech,  saying  in 
part: 

This  is  a  sacred  place  to  me.  It  has 
been  since  1842,  when  we  joined  with 
the  abolitionists  in  their  errand  con 
ventions  in  this  place.  Mr.  Garrison 
always  had  some  notice  in  his  paper 
when  we  were  traveling  over  the  coun 
try.  I  remember  that  one  time  in  St. 
Louis  the  mayor,  after  one  of  our  con 
certs  said,  "You  are  an  abolitionist; 
you  have  no  business  here;  get  out  of 
the  city.  You  will  have  no  protection 
here,"  and  we  left  in  a  hurry.  We 
went  straight  into  Chicago  where  we 
were  received  with  open  arms.  I  re 


member  in  New  Haven  some  slave 
sympathizers  in  the  gallery  hissed  us. 
My  brother,  Judson,  rose  deliberately 
and  said:  "There  are  no  snakes  in  Ire 
land,  but  there  are  some  geese  in 
America." 

He  told  of  an  incident  in  England 
when  the  Hutchinsons  went  to  Eng 
land  with  Frederick  Douglass,  and 
when  he  sat  with  them  at  the  table. 
Then  he  sang  "The  Car  Emancipa 
tion,"  which  evoked  much  laughter, 
being  supported  by  his  wife  and  son, 
who  joined  in  the  chorus. 

The  chairman  of  the  committee  ap 
pointed  in  the  afternoon  to  see  the 
mayor  reported  that  the  wreath  had 
been  restored. 

Mr.  Moses  Newsome  was  then 
asked  by  the  chairman  to  speak,  but 
the  hour  being  late,  and  the  audience 
anxious  to  get  away,  he  desisted,  and 
Rev.  Byron  Gunner  pronounced  the 
benediction,  after  wkich  Secretary 
Trotter  brought  Mrs.  Hudson  to  the 
front  of  the  stage  and  explained  she 
was  once  a  fugitive  slave,  and  was 
"presented"  to  Mr.  Garrison  at  a  Fan- 
euil  hall  anti-slavery  meeting  50  years 
ago. 

Thus  ended  the  greatest  meeting  of 
Colored  people  in  Boston  since  the 
Emancipation  Proclamation  and  the 
enactment  of  the  15th  amendment,  in 
the  opinion  of  the  old  resiednts,  and 
the  greatest  celebration  Boston  Col 
ored  people  ever  had. 

The  members  of  the  Columbia  Glee 
club  who  were  present  to  sing  were: 
Chas.  A.  E.  Cuffee,  Geo.  B.  O'Brien, 
John  D.  Allston,  first  tenors;  J.  E. 
Lee,  Chas.  L.  White,  Chas.  Johnson, 
J.  B.  Waters,  second  tenors;  Wm.  H. 
Richardson,  Edw.  Rollins,  J.  Sherman 
Jones,  Julius  B.  Goddard,  first  basses; 
Dr.  I.  L.  Roberts,  Wm.  H.  Hamilton, 
J.  R.  McClenney,  second  basses:  J. 
R.  McClenney,  musical  director;  Wm. 
H.  Hamilton,  manager. 

The  members  of  the  Common 
wealth  band  which  rendered  such  ex 
cellent  music  are:  Wm.  A.  Smith,  lead 
er;  J.  H.  Barkley,  R.  Birch,  Chas. 
Butcher,  Joseph  Bonner,  D.  W.  Chest 
nut,  G.  L.  Cephas,  Joseph  De  Lyons, 
T.  J.  Hamilton,  Wm.  Howard.  M. 
Hayes,  J.  E.  Johnson,  John  Lee,  treas 
urer,  Chas.  Sheppard,  Dr.  Scott,  B.  S. 
Vvnite,  Luther  White,  secretary,  J.  M. 
Grigsby,  Chas.  Thomas,  John  Cook, 
L.  T.  B.  Howard.  Thos.  Bovell.  \V.  B. 
Burrell,  C.  F.  Chandler,  C.  H.  Bark- 
ley,  Jr.,  Mr.  Clay. 


The  Citizens  Committee  of  the  Two 
Days  Celebration 


The  movement  for  a  public  observ 
ance  of  the  Centenary  of  Wm.  Lloyd 
Garrison  was  first  conceived  and  an 
nounced  by  the  Boston  Suffrage 
League,  at  a  meeting  held  in  the  rooms 
of  the  Charles  Sumner  Republican 
club,  634  Shawmut  avenue,  on  Nov. 
29,  1904,  at  which  time  a  committee 
was  appointed.  This  made  the  Bos 
ton  movement  the  pioneer  in  the 
country.  Nothing  was  done,  however, 
till  the  next  year,  when  at  a  meeting 
of  the  league,  Oct.  17,  1905,  held  at 
the  same  place,  a  new  committee  of 
twelve  members  was  appointed  by  the 
President,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Scott,  to  ar 
range  for  a  celebration  and  to  seek 
the  co-operation  of  all  the  citizens 
of  Greater  Boston. 

The  first  meeting  of  the  League's 
Committee  was  held  at  the  establish 
ment  of  Mr.  J.  A.  Crawford,  the  chair 
man,  894  Tremont  street,  Oct.  25th, 
1905,  and  subsequent  meetings  were 
held  at  the  establishment  of  Mr.  Chas. 
A.  Scales,  626A  Shawmut  avenue.  The 
first  meeting  of  the  Citizens  Commit 
tee  was  held  at  Love  and  Charity 
hall,  1042  Tremont  street,  Sunday, 
Nov.  19,  1905,  and  was  largely  attend 
ed,  the  use  of  the  hall  being  donated 
by  the  Brothers  and  Sisters  of  Love 
and  Charity,  through  the  intercession 
of  Mr.  Walter  Thomas.  Sub-commit 
tees  of  the  Citizens  Committee  were 
appointed  on  Arrangements,  Printing, 
Reception,  Finance,  Decoration,  Music, 
Resolutions  and  Wreath. 

Meetings  and  adjourned  meetings  of 
these  sub-committees  were  held  in  the 
parlors  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  D.  H.  Miner, 
31  Holyoke  street;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rob 
ert  Ransom,  16  Holyoke  street;  Mrs. 
Lucy  Groves,  389  Northampton  street; 
Dr.  and  Mrs.  S.  J.  Fewell,  92  West 
Springfield  street;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rob 
ert  Lee.  367  Northampton  street; 
Capt.  and  Mrs.  Charles  L,  Mitchell,  24 
Sherman  street,  and  Mrs.  Arianna  C. 
Sparrow,  75  Camden  street. 

By  invitation  of  the  League's  'Com 
mittee,  the  session  at  St.  Monica's 
Home,  125  Highland  street,  Mr.  Garri 


son's  homestead,  was  taken  charge  of 
by  St.  Monica's  Aid  Sewing  Circle  and 
St.  Monica's  Relief  Association;  the 
session  at  the  Smith  Court  Syna 
gogue  (which  place  was  secured 
through  the  kind  intercession  of  Mr. 
H.  Crine  of  Brookline)  by  the  Boston 
Literary  and  Historical  Association 
and  the  St.  Mark  Musical  and  Literary 
Union,  and  the  morning  session  at  Fan- 
euil  Hall  by  the  Colored  Veteran  As 
sociations  and  Women's  Clubs.  The 
meetings  of  this  last  committee  were 
held  in  the  parlors  of  Commander  and 
Mrs.  A.  Ditmus,  67  Phillips  street,  and 
of  Mrs.  Hannah  C.  Smith,  371  North 
ampton  street. 

The  members  of  the  Citizens   Com 
mittee  by  sub-committees  were: 

Committee    of    Arrangements 

Mark  R.  DeMortie,  Chairman.  Philip 
J.  Allston,  secretary,  J-  R.  Andrews, 
Joseph  Butler,  Albert  Brown,  Capt. 
Geo.  W.  Braxton,  Win.  G.  Butler,  T.  E. 
Bowser,  E.  E.  Brown,  George  Betts,  T.  R. 
Bird,  Stephen  Brown,  J.  W.  Buchanan,  S. 
Boulware,  Mrs.  S.  Boulware,  W.  A.  Bland, 
Simon  Ball.  Miss  Beulah  Butler,  Mrs.  Mary 
Barnett.  Henry  Batchelder,  Mrs.  Henry 
Batchelder.  Marshall  Bridgett,  J.  A.  Craw 
ford,  F.  R.  Chisholm,  Mrs.  Robt.  Carter 
T.  S.  Calvin,  Edw.  Christian,  E.  M.  Clary, 
Mrs.  I.  R.  Chapman,  Alexander  Gotten, 
Wm.  H.  Dupree,  Mrs.  E.  Davenport,  James 
Epps,  L.  A.  Eichelburge,  Catherine  Free 
man,  George  C.  Freeman,  A.  J.  Foye,  Mrs. 
A.  J.  Foye,  Mr.  Foye,  Dr.  Wm.  II.  Gilbert, 
Jesse  Goode,  W.  O.  Goodell,  George  S.  Glov 
er,  Wm.  N.  Goode,  Robt.  Hemmings,  Wm. 
II.  Holden.  L.  S.  Hicks,  W.  P.  Hare,  W.  A. 
Hemmingway,  Mrs.  W.  A.  Hemmingway. 
M.  F.  Hamlin,  Sam'l  Jackson,  T.  V.  Jones, 
A.  V.  Jones,  Edmund  K.  Jones,  A.  W.  Jor 
dan,  Mrs.  Annie  Jenkins,  Eugene  A.  Jack 
son,  Mr.  Jackson,  A.  P.  Jones,  Henry  Jones, 
Mrs.  Mary  Johnson,  Asa  B.  Kountze,  Dr. 
Henry  Lewis,  W.  M.  Lash,  Dr.  W.  C.  Lane, 
Peter  Lattimore,  John  D.  Ludkins,  W.  W. 
Mercer,  J.  E.  Martin,  Mrs.  M.  A.  McAdoo, 
Sam'l  Merchant,  Guy  Outlaw,  Wm.  Pegram, 
Geo.  N.  Rainey,  Luke  E.  Reddick,  \Vm 
Riley,  U.  A.  Ridley,  Mrs.  Mary  Selden,  Rev 
M.  A.  N.  Shaw,  Wm.  H.  Smith,  Miss  Mary 
Richards,  Rev.  Wm.  H.  Scott,  Walter  W. 
Sampson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Stephens,  Walter  J. 
Stephens,  Henry  Sport,  Louis  F.  Smith,  W. 
C.  Tucker,  Mrs.  Virginia  Trotter,  Henry  A. 
Turner,  Allen  Thompson,  S.  Tasco,  Mrs.  W. 
H.  Thomas.  Miss  R.  E.  Thompson,  Sam'l 
Washington,  J.  C.  Westmoreland,  J.  H. 
Walden,  Milton  Walker,  N.  P.  Wentworth, 
J.  H.  Wolfe,  Lewis  H.  Williams,  Mr.  and 


66 


ONK    HLTNTI)RKI)TH    ANNIVERSARY 


Mrs.  S.  K.  Wilson,  J.  S.  Bailey,  Louis  P. 
Baldwin,  James  W.  Council.  James  C.  John 
son,  Franklin  Furr.  Mrs.  C.  G.  Morgan, 
Thomas  Morgan.  \V.  A.  Richardson,  Mrs. 
Kosetia  Robinson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  S.  William 
son.  Geo.  M.  Wright,  Miss  A.  L.  Andrews. 
Joseph  D.  Augustine.  W.  L.  Brown.  Joseph 
Bailey,  Mrs.  J.  W.  Brooks.  Mrs.  Samuel 
Bush,  Mrs.  James  E.  Banks.  Miss  Estella 
Hanks.  Mrs.  Rachel  J.  Brown,  Mrs.  E. 
Booker.  C.  M.  Bonneau,  James  1).  Brum- 
mell,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Harry  C.  Cornish,  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  ('has.  R.  Cain,  8.  J.  Davis.  Mrs. 
Courtney  Dozier.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  William 
Foster.  'Mrs.  Z.  R.  Fountain.  Mrs.  Esther 
Faulkner.  Horace  J.  Gray.  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Lahan  C.  Houser.  Mrs.  John  R.  King, 
Joseph  S.  Kemp.  Mrs.  Susan  L.  Kemp.  Mrs. 
Mary  King.  Miss  Willie  Lewis.  Mrs.  Daniel 
H.  Miner.  Mrs.  Fmery  T.  Morris,  Mrs.  Ma 
ria  I*.  Mowbry.  Mrs.  Esther  Pierce.  William 
Parker.  Mrs.  Jerusha  F.  Ross.  Mrs.  G.  L. 
Robinson.  Mrs.  Alice  V.  Scott.  Mrs.  Lurenia 
Stallion.  W.  F.  Sykes.  Mrs.  Nellie  A.  Stith, 
Dr.  D.  W.  Sherfod.  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Selby. 
Mrs.  Julia  A.  Tynes,  Mrs.  Matilda  Thomas, 
Mrs.  L.  A.  Weston. 

Committe\3    on    Decoration. 
Mrs.     Katherine    Lee.     Chairman,     S.     D. 
Anderson,     John    Adams,     Mrs.     Emily    All- 
ston.    Fred'k    E.    Allston,    Henry    Anderson 

C.  A.   Averett.   W.   H.    Beckett.   G.   H.   Book 
er.   Mr.  and   Mrs.   S.   E.   Bishop,  T.   P.  Cole- 
man,   Mrs.   J.   C.   Chappelle.   J.   Cohen,   Mrs 
R.  Coursey,  J.  O.  Credle.   Mrs.  Annie  Chase, 
Mrs.   Drummond.   Mrs.    \V.    H.    Dupree,   F.  C. 
Dickerson,   R.   F.   Dymond.    Mrs.    Mary   Dan 
dridge.  T.  J.  Ewing,  Mrs.  L.  L.  Foy,  'Ernest 
Feutado,    Mr.    and    Mrs.    L    P.    Fern,   James 
French.     W.     Fitzgerald.     Mrs.     R.     Fenney, 
Mr.  Farnam.  G.   K.   Fitzgiles.  G.  H.   Green, 
Mrs.   M.  Grant,  J.  Guthrie,  F.  Gaston   Hill. 
J.    R.    Hamm.    Mrs.    Mary    Howard.    Ernest 
Holmes,   Ernest  Hodges,  J.  T.  Hardy,  Peter 
Hanscombe.    Mrs.    A.    C.    Hawthorne.   Annie 
K.  Harris,   Sgt.   Homer.  Mrs.  Chas.   H.   Hall 
L.    N.    Hicks.    II.    Henderson.    Mr.   and    Mrs 
W.    L.    Holly.    D.    B.    Harrell.    Mrs.    Ilirks, 
George  W.  Johnson.  George  W.  Johnson.  R 
J.  Junes.  J.  S.  Jenkins,  Mrs.  Rachael  John- 
son.   Monroe   Johnson.    Mr.   and   Mrs.   W.   A. 
Johnston.   Mrs.   Joseph    King.    Warren    King. 
Mrs.  Louise  Kenswil,  A.  B.  Lattlmore.  Mrs. 
Fannie    Lonon,    George    W.    Lewis,    W.    1*. 
Lewis.    H.    II.    Johnson,    John    Leary.    Mrs. 
Joseph     Lee.     Mrs.     Mary     Jackson,     Harry 
Lewis.    Mrs.    L.    Lomax.    Mrs.   G.    H.    Lynch. 
Andrew  B.  Lattimore,  M.  J.  Morris.  Alfred 
Mathias.  R.  J.  Morris,  J.  Monroe.  Isaac  Man 
uel,  Mrs.  L.  Marstellar.  Mrs.  G.  C.  Maynard. 
Henry  Murray,  Z.   Moody,   W.   H.  Mclntlre. 
II.  M.  Murray.   R.  S.   Melvin,  S.  McKinney, 
J.   P.  Nelson,   W.  G.   Norris,  J.   E.  O'Brien. 
W.  S.  Patrick.  Mrs.  B.  Perkins.   Mrs.  Rich 
ardson,  J.  Peake,  S.  Perkins,  Mrs.  Edith  L 
Pile.     J.     Rowly,     W.     Russell.     Miss     Su 
sie  E.  Raymond,  W.   H.   Richardson,   Nicho 
las   Rhone,    Roswell   Roles.   Mr.   Atlas   Skin- 
n^r.    W.   S.   Sparrow,    W.    H.    Surrey.   T.    G 
S'-huyler.     Mrs.     J.     Ellis    Shaw,     John     R 
Suggs,   Thomas   W.   Swan.   W.   B.   Smith,   J. 

D.  Sheldin,   L.    Spottswood.    J.   Sanchez,    E. 
Sharp.     Walter    Thomas,    T.    Thomas,     Mr. 
and  Mrs.  A.  B.  Taylor.  W.  W.  Taylor.  Mrs. 
Fannie  Taylor.  B.  Tinsley.  Miss  Susie  Upton, 
Mrs.    Elizabeth    Wilson,    B.    F.    Washington, 
G.  E.  Wilson,  A.  W.  Wood,  U.  S.  G.  Wright. 
A.    J.    White.    W.    Watkins,    W.    Walker.    S. 

E.  Wood.   Wm.   H.   Wilkes.   James  H.   West, 
Miles    Whitney,    W.    H.    Wilson,    Harry     F. 
Wilson.    F.   Whittaker,    Mrs.   Sarah    Wright. 
A.   White.   W.   S.   Wilson,   Alex  Young.   John 
Allston.     Eddie     Armstead.     Mrs.     Rosa     H. 


Barnett.  James  <).  Davis,  A.  L.  Edwards, 
Elmo  F.  Furey.  Richard  Jones,  Wm.  J. 
Lindsay,  Mrs.  Fannie  Marable.  G.  B.  Me 
Kenzie.  Mrs.  Mary  J.  Mercer,  W.  S.  Price, 
C.  C.  Pel  ham,  L.  J.  Quarles,  P.  S.  Spencer. 
Mrs.  Georgie  Simmons.  W.  H.  P.  Thorn 
ton.  J.  L.  Wedger.  T.  J.  Williams. 

Resolutions  Committee. 
T.  P.  Taylor,  chairman,  J.  W.  Hill,  sec 
retary.  W.  Allston,  Esq..  Mrs.  Agnes  Adams, 
J.  Henderson  Allston,  Mrs.  Octavia  J.  Arm 
stead.  William  O.  Armstrong,  J.  H.  Bryant, 
Robert  W.  Brown,  Montague  Burley,  D.  W. 
Bates,  M.  R.  Browne,  E.  D.  Brown  Dr 

E.  P.  Brown.  Miss  Maria  L.  Baldwin,  J.  R. 
Bourne,  William  G.  Butler,  Gertrude  Baker 
Arthur    Bodene,    W.     Stanley    Braithwaite, 
Christopher   Branum.    W.    H.    Batum.    W.    S. 
Carpenter.     Oliver     R.     Crump,     Robert    F. 
Coursey,   David   Crawford,   Lee   M.   Carring 
ton,    Dr.   W.    A.   COx,   Mrs.    E.    E.   Casneau, 
W.     Chapman.     George     P.    Dabney.     C.    S. 
Dixon.    Rev.    J.    H.    Duckery.    Philip   Down 
ing.  J.  H.  Edwards.  Dr.  S.  C.  Fuller,  Leon 
ard    Ford.    J.    Wesley    Furlong.    Dr.   George 

F.  Grant,   M.   Goolsby.    Miss   Eliza   Gardner. 
Horace    Gray,    Jr.,    William    B.    Gould     Sr 
Fred   J.   Hemmings,   J.   C.    Holmes,   William 
H.    Hardy,   Andrew   C.    Hall,    Rev.   Johns,on 
Hill,    Mrs.   Addie   Jewell.   W.    Hall   Jackson, 
Rev.    W.   D.   Johnson,   Charles   King,   James 
A.    Lew,   John   T.   Morris,   Charles   Mainioy 
Lawrence   C.   Miller,   D.   II.   Milligan.   Gran- 
ville   Martin.   J.    H.   MacKenzie,   N.  B.   Mar 
shall,    J.    F.    McKenney,    Emery   T.    Morris 
C.    G.    Morgan.     Moses    Newsome.    William 
Pleasant.   Mr.   Pegiam.    Elmer   Poyer.   C.   H 
Pierce.  Freeman  A.  Perkins,  Dr.  T.  W.  Pat 
rick.    Raymond    L.    Phillips.    G.    W.    Rahn 
William  T.  Ritchie.  S.  P.  Randall,  Clarence 
Robinson,    Henry    Ruttin,    Dr.    II.    W.    Ross 
Mrs.  F.   R.  Ridley,  S.  R.  Rhone,  Rev.  A.  K! 
Spearman.    Mr.    Seco,    Mrs.    Hannah   Smith 
M'ss    Hattie    Smith,    Thomas    C.    Scottron 
J.  B.  Stokes.  Rev.   P.  T.  Staniford.   Mrs.  A 
Sparrow.  A.  II.  Scales.  Edward  Slater.  Mrs 
Susie    King   Ta^,  .or.    William    Tarby.    Maude 
Trotter.    B.    R.    Wilson.    Esq..    Rev.    J.    H. 
Wiley.    William    H.    Wilson.    Rev.    David   R. 
Wallace.      Benjamin      Washington.      W.     O. 
Wost.  Cant.  William  J.  Williams.  Mr.  West. 
Mrs.  Jessie  Weyman. 

Committee    on    Finance. 

Dr.  S.  J.  Fewell.  Chairman.  C.  R.  Sheler. 
Secretary.  Mrs.  <Jeorgie  Augustine.  John 
Bunks.  J.  A.  Brown.  C.  S.  Brown.  Wm.  A. 
Bemberg.  Jas.  E.  Binns.  James  E.  Banks. 
H.  H.  o.  Burwell.  Rev.  J.  D.  Bloice,  Mrs. 
Matthew  Banks,  Rev.  W.  II.  Burrell,  C.  H. 
Crawford.  Rev.  S.  A.  Carrington,  A.  J. 
Curry.  A.  Crumpler.  R.  J.  Cox,  J.  H. 
Chandler  Rev.  S.  J.  Comfort,  John  Charles 
ton.  Mrs.  David  Chestnut,  Squire  Clark. 
Miss  Annie  Chapman.  R.  Crawford,  Mrs.  J. 
W.  Council.  Luther  Dandridge.  G.  W.  Da 
vis.  W.  II.  Davis.  Miss  Diamond.  Wm.  Daw- 
kins.  W.  II.  Davis,  Washington  Diggs,  J. 
II.  Dngger.  Mr.  Joseph  Dorsey.  Mrs.  Mary 
Dunson.  A.  II.  Dixon.  Mrs.  'Mar^  Daven- 
norr.  Jas.  A.  Devine,  Edw.  A.  Ditnus.  E.  R. 
DeLong.  A.  L.  Foye.  Mrs.  Charlotte  France. 
Mr.  A.  J.  Fassett.  Rev.  B.  W.  Farris,  Pom 
pey  Gray,  Theodore  Gould.  Geo.  W.  Gray. 
James  L.  Green.  James  H.  Gardner.  Mrs. 
A.  A.  Grant.  Mrs.  Martha  Green,  E.  W. 
Holmes.  S.  B.  Iliggins.  Rev.  Jesse  Harrell, 
T.  J.  Hamilton.  Rev.  M.  L.  Harvey.  Rev. 
E.  S.  Hatton.  J.  Francis  Henry,  James  II. 
Hawkins.  Frank  Hey  wood.  Gilbert  C.  liar 
ris.  S.  P  Hutchinson.  Frank  Hill. 
Mrs.  Mary  James,  Miss  Alice  James.  Wm. 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD   GARRISON 


Jones,  Theodore  Jennings,  John  Johnson, 
Lowman  B.  Johnson,  Mrs.  A.  W.  Jordan, 
Mrs.  Mary  Johnson,  J.  H.  King,  Joseph 
King-,  Walter  King,  H.  A.  Kenswil,  William 
R.  Kimball,  W.  H.  King,  Wm.  C.  Lovett, 
Mark  C.  London,  G.  A.  Logman,  T.  F. 
Marlow,  Mrs.  Effle  Miller,  Mrs.  S.  L.  Mon* 
roe,  Charles  E.  Woodest,  G.  W.  Morris, 
Paul  Monroe,  Geo.  W.  Mullen,  Agnes  Mc- 
Caine,  Albert  McNeil,  P.  L.  Mitchell,  Mrs. 
Kate  Monroe,  Mrs.  Elnora  Modeste,  H. 
Mayers,  W.  S.  Moore,  Miss  Elizabeth  Old- 
royd,  J.  A.  Phinney,  Mrs.  Albert  Parham, 
Mr.  C.  Parker,  Mrs.  C.  Parker,  William  H. 
Pryor,  Rev.  L.  C.  Parrish,  Mrs.  R.  C.  Ran 
som,  Dr.  I.  L.  Roberts,  Mrs.  Mary  Russell, 
Sergt.  Robinson,  J.  R.  Ransom,  W.  H.  Rob 
inson,  Erskin  Roberts,  George  L.  Robinson, 
Nancy  Reddick,  Mrs.  Emma  Spiller,  J.  E 
Shaw,  Reuben  Stephens,  Fred  A.  Smith, 
Rev.  F.  G.  Snelson,  Mrs.  Henry  Sport, 
Robt.  G.  Smith,  C.  R.  Sheler,  J.  H.  Saun- 
ders.  A.  E.  Trusty,  Mrs.  F.  Tarby,  George 
F.  Thompson,  Mrs.  Elmer  Thomas,  C.  W. 
Whaley,  Mrs.  H.  Waddell,  S.  E.  Wood. 
Samuel  Winuingham,  Mrs.  Sarah  B.  West, 
J.  W.  Williams,  Robert  L.  Whitneld,  Martha 
White,  C.  W.  M.  Williams,  Mrs.  M.  A. 
Woodest,  Henry  Batum,  Steward  E.  Hoyt, 
A.  A.  Kiner,  C.  B.  Manuel,  Arthur  B 
Quarles,  John  H.  Taylor. 

Committee  on   Music. 

Julius  B.  Goddaru,  cnairman.  J.  M.  Ar- 
buckle,  J.  F.  Anderson,  C.  T.  Bovell,  G.  H. 
Barnett,  Miss  Mary  Demby,  John  D.  Dowse, 
Madam  Corbin  David,  Henry  Dixon,  G.  E. 
Edmead,  Lovett  Groves,  Miss  Marjorie 
Groves,  Mrs.  Eva  Roosa  Hutchins,  W.  H. 
Hamilton,  Mrs.  W.  H.  Hamilton,  Mrs.  Maud 
Cuney  Hare,  J.  Sherman  Jones,  Benjamin 
Janey,  Miss  Georgetta  Johnston,  Miss  Gene- 
vieve  Lee,  Irving  Y.  Langston,  Way  man 
Jefferson,  Mrs.  Rachel  Johnson,  Charles  H. 
Johnson,  Miss  Daisy  Jones,  James  E.  Lee. 
J.  R.  McClenney,  James  H.  Moore,  J.  Shel- 
ton  Pollen,  Antonio  Portuondo,  Prof.  John 
F.  Ransom.  George  L.  Ruffin,  Mrs.  Nicholas 
Rhone,  Wm.  H.  Richardson,  J.  Patterson 
Rollins,  Mrs.  J.  Patterson  Rollins,  Spencer 
Riley.  Mrs.  Carrie  Bland  Sheler,  Miss  Elean- 
ora  Smith,  T.  Wilcott  Swan,  Jr.,  W.  A 
Smith,  Chas.  Sport,  Mrs.  Adelaide  Smith 
Terry,  Garfleld  Tarrant,  Miss  Rachel  M. 
Washington,  Prof.  Fred  P.  White,  W.  H. 
Wooten,  Miss  Georgietta  Woodest,  Eugene 
Williams.  C.  F.  White,  C.  E.  Wheeler,  Mrs. 
Phoebe  Glover,  Miss  Georgine  Glover.  Mrs. 
Lillian  Reynolds-Ray,  Mrs.  G.  C.  Harris, 

Committee    on    Printing. 

Pauline  E.  Hopkins,  chairman,  Dr. 
C.  G.  Steward,  secretary,  J.  C.  An 
drews,  James  Anderson,  Mr.  George  Brax- 
ton,  M.  B.  Brooks,  John  Bumgardner,  Geo. 
H.  Banks,  W.  H.  Burns,  H.  A.  Brown,  Esq., 
Mrs.  Cynthia  Barnes,  Eldridge  Baker,  Miss 
Lilly  Brown.  Walden  Banks,  Mrs.  Olivia 
Ward  Bush,  J.  O.  Crosswhite,  Bernard 
Charles,  James  Canada,  Mrs.  Ellen  M.  Cot- 
ten,  L.  AV.  Carter,  George  R.  Crawford, 
F.  Cooper,  Bud  Cummings,  Eugene  Clark, 
Albert  Leroy  Curtis,  Charles  Chapman,  H. 
E.  Dugan.  Samuel  L.  Davenport,  George  P. 
Dabney,  Lattimore  Duncan,  Geo.  H.  Drum- 
mond,  James  E.  Ebron,  Mrs.  E.  Feutado, 
Charles  P.  Ford,  A.  Francis,  Henry  J.  Fai 
son,  Leo  Felts,  E.  &  E.  Gould,  W.  O.  Green, 
W.  B.  Gould,  Jr.,  David  M.  Green,  Samuel 
M.  Garrett,  Samuel  Griffin.  Dr.  John  B. 
Hall,  Chas.  E.  Hall.  Mrs.  M.  C.  Hall,  Mrs 
M.  E.  Harding,  Basil  F.  Hutchins,  Mrs 
Jesse  Harrell,  M.  R.  Jackson,  Dr.  T.  J. 
Jones,  Mr.  Johnson,  Thomas  D.  Johnson, 


Robert  M.  Johnson,  Mrs.  S.  A.  Jackson, 
J.  R.  King,  Joseph  R.  Kieble,  William  Liv 
ingston,  Robert  E.  Lee.  B.  S.  Lobam,  Geo. 
C.  Lewis,  Robert  P.  Lewis,  Elmond  Lewis, 
Miss  Eva.  Lewis,  Andrew  G.  Lee,  Samuel 
McCoy,  Charles  P.  Morris,  Clarence  Mc« 
Kay,  Herbert  Modest,  W.  T.  H.  Miller, 
Lewis  P.  Morris,  Jos.  McGill,  Mrs.  Mary 
Newsome,  J.  J.  Nichols,  Miss  Mary  Only, 
Mrs.  C.  Parrish,  J.  Holman  Pryor,  William 
Perry.  Mrs.  Annie  Phillips,  Lucy  E.  Pritch- 
ard,  Mrs.  Mary  Potter,  Preston  M.  Pero* 
vast,  U.  S.  Powell,  Miss  Ella  Randolph, 
Mrs.  William  L.  Reed,  R.  L.  Ruffin.  D.  A. 
Roberts,  Edward  Rhone,  Charles  Richard 
son,  Mr.  Robert  Ransom,  Mrs.  Robert  Ran 
som,  Alexander  Robinson,  Mrs.  John  Smith, 
Chas.  L.  Smith,  Thomas  Scottron,  Frank 
Smith,  Miss  Josephine  Selden.  W.  H.  Scott. 
C.  J.  Shepard.  Pearl  C.  Scottron,  Clarence 
J.  Smith,  Charles  H.  Scales,  T.  G.  Schuyler, 
Dr.  Charles  G.  Steward,  Mrs.  W.  M.  Trot 
ter,  T.  G.  Tynes.  John  Thornton.  W.  H. 
Turner,  R.  D.  White,  Miss  Nellie  Wilson, 
George  W.  Washington,  Charles  Wilson,  R. 
C.  Wilson,  Mrs.  Virginia  Woods,  Arthur 
Woodest,  Mrs.  F.  Williams,  Jacob  L.  Whit 
man.  Mrs.  Mary  V.  Wood,  H.  J.  Williams, 
Miss  Mattie  Wigfall.  William  Washington, 
H.  A.  Walker,  John  Wilkinson.  Mrs.  Carrie 
Wormley,  Mrs.  Maggie  Williams. 

Committee    on     Reception. 

Madam  M.  Cravath  Simpson,  chairman, 
Mrs.  Charles  A.  King,  secretary,  An 
drew  Atkinson,  Frederick  Atkinson,  J.  E. 
Anderson,  John  E.  Ayer,  Mrs.  Philip  All- 
ston,  Mrs.  J.  R.  Andrews,  C.  H.  Adams, 
Mrs.  C.  II.  Adams,  E.  J.  Archer,  Mrs.  E.  J. 
Archer,  1*.  L.  Brooks,  Mrs.  P.  L.  Brooks, 
Mrs.  Cynthia  Barnes,  Mrs.  Eliza  Ben 
jamin,  W.  O.  Budd,  Mrs.  W.  O.  Budd, 
Mrs.  Luella  Briggs,  Charles  H.  Ball, 
William  Ball,  Barry  Blakeney,  Mrs. 
K.  Banks.  Miss  R.  Barbadoes,  R.  O. 
Bernard,  James  Bonner,  Mrs.  James  Bon- 
ner,  S.  E.  Bishop,  Mrs.  S.  E.  Bishop,  Robert 
T.  Blackman,  Mrs.  H.  Bishop,  Joseph  Bar 
nett,  Spurgeon  Bell,  William  E.  Batum, 
Mrs.  Carrie  Bodene,  Mrs.  W.  Stanley  Braith- 
waite,  John  Barrows,  Edw.  Barrows,  John 
Brooks,  Samuel  H.  Bush,  Frederick  Borden, 
W.  H.  Bowen,  Mrs.  Mary  E.  Bennett,  Geo. 
Benders,  J.  A.  Bell,  Mrs.  Martha  Bland, 
Mrs.  J.  Barnett,  Mrs.  F.  A.  Barker,  Dr. 
Samuel  E.  Courtney,  Mrs.  J.  Cohen,  Mrs. 
William  Cromwell,  R.  E.  Crusenberry,  Mrs. 
E.  Caution,  A.  J.  Cord,  W.  Chapman,  Mrs. 
George  Crawford,  W.  H.  Colley.  Mrs.  David 
Crawford,  Mrs.  Frank  R.  Chisholm,  Mrs. 
John  Council,  Mrs.  J.  O.  Crosswhite,  Mrs. 
Campbell,  J.  Chisholm,  R.  L.  Carter,  E.  L 
Davis,  G.  W.  Dennis,  John  H.  Dorsey,  Reu* 
ben  Davis,  John  W.  Douglass.  Daniel  Down 
ing,  Mrs.  Delia  Evans,  Robert  Ferguson, 
Mrs.  Robert  Ferguson,  Mr.  Flood,  Miss  M. 

E.  Fletcher,     W.     C.     Fessenden,     Charles 
Ford,  Oscar  Fitzwater,  Zachariah  R.  Foun 
tain,    Miss    Ida    Gross,    Mrs.    Lucy    Groves, 
Mrs.    George   S.   Glover,    W.   H.   Gordon,    E. 
W.  Goode.  Jacob  Green,  William  H.  Goode, 
C.    H.    Garnish,    Henry    Gibson,    Mrs.    Dora 
Hemmings,  Mrs.  J.  O.  Henson,  Mrs.  Hardy, 

F.  C.    Henderson,    Frederick    S.    Hamilton, 

G.  A.  Hopkins,  Simon  J.  Hall,  Jordan  Hill, 
Mrs.  William  Haywood,  Mr.  Harris,  George 
Henson,    Mrs.    Irene    Jurix,    Mrs.    Jackson, 
B.  F.  Jackson,  Julius  A.  Jordan,  Mrs.  R.  J. 
Jones,    Mrs.    Rachel    Jenkins,    Mrs.    George 
Jackson,    Col.    B.    J.    Jackson.    Mrs.    N.    L. 
Johnson,    Mrs.    Charles    A.    King,    Benj.    F. 
Kettler,   Wesley  W.  Kennedy,   Mrs.   Sue  So- 
mas,   John   Long,    Charles   E.   Legette,   Mrs. 
Lucy  Lewis,  Mrs.  L.  Lomax,  J.  L.  Lassiter, 


68 


ONE    HIXDRKDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


Edward  Lewis,  Mrs.  Edward  Lewis,  P.  F 
Marshall,  G.  A.  J.  Murray,  Mrs.  F.  L. 
Mid-hell.  Lewis  F.  Middletown,  Charles  Mc- 
Cree  M* .  and  Mrs.  C.  B.  Moore,  Sol.  L. 
Martin.  C.  E.  Martin,  Chas.  II.  Moore,  Mrs. 
Paul  Monroe.  George  Marshall*  J.  H.  Me- 
Keii/.it1.  A.  W.  Nelson,  Thomas  Nelson.  Miss 
K.  O.  Neat.  L.  K.  Pasco.  J.  Pinkney,  Mrs. 
J.  Pinkney.  Mrs.  T.  II.  Palmer,  Tiberius  G. 
Phillips.  Mrs.  W.  L.  Patrick,  A.  A.  Port 
look.  H.  A.  Russell,  Mrs.  Cornelia  Robinson, 
George  Rahn,  Mrs.  George  Rahn,  Miss  Ma 
mie  Robinson,  Miss  Clara  Robinson,  Mrs 
J.  R.  Ransom,  Mrs.  J.  St.  P.  Ruffin.  Scott 
Robinson.  Virgil  Richardson,  C.  P.  Russell, 
William  Shields,  J.  Ellis  Shaw,  Miss  Min 
nie  Smith.  Miss  C.  B.  Stanford,  Mrs.  F.  G. 
Snelson,  John  Shiner,  Amos  Spencer,  Geo 
Simpson.  Mrs.  Emma  A.  Smith,  Jas.  E.  Q. 
Swan.  Mrs.  J.  R.  Stubbs,  Arthur  Sharp, 
Mrs  J.  II.  Saunders,  W.  A.  Sears,  Alice  B. 
Smith.  Henry  Smith,  E.  Saunders,  Jackson 
Stovall.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Robert  Steward.  Mrs. 
J.  E.  Shaw.  J.  E.  Stephens,  Frank  Smith, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  E.  L.  Smith,  I.  H.  Scott, 


Miss  D.  Stewart,  Miss  Florence  Stewart. 
Mrs.  Mary  E.  Townes,  William  E.  Turner, 
W.  H.  Turner.  E.  L.  Thomas,  Mrs.  J.  C. 
Thomas,  James  Tucker,  Miss  Bessie  V. 
Trotter,  Lewis  Terry,  Mrs.  Jennie  Turner, 
J.  H.  Van  Cliff.  Mrs.  Vlck.  W.  II.  Valem 
tine,  Louis  C.  Woods,  Joseph  W.  Younger, 
Mrs.  W.  Walker,  Mrs.  William  Washington, 
Mrs.  John  P.  Waters.  John  M.  Wentworth, 
Miss  Isabel  Walker,  C.  W.  Whalley,  Mrs. 
M.  Wilkerson.  Hall  Williams,  Mrs.  J.  W. 
Williams.  J.  W.  White.  C.  J.  Wright,  Mrs 
Milton  Walker.  Edward  Wallace,  Mrs.  Mar 
garet  Williams.  Mrs.  Rosetta  Warmack, 
Mrs.  C.  Willis,  Mrs.  A.  W.  Young.  Mrs.  Rob 
ert  Young,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  Bankhead, 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Walter  Brown,  Mrs.  Emma 
Butler.  Geo.  L.  Dandridge,  Miss  Ella  Da 
vis.  Mrs.  Emma  Horton,  Geo.  S.  Hobson, 
William  E.  Harvey.  Mrs.  C.  S.  Harrington, 
Mrs.  J.  E.  Jeffries,  Mrs.  M.  A.  Johnson, 
R.  E.  Russell.  Archie  Shaw.  II.  C.  Simp 
son,  Mrs.  Ilattie  Washington,  Henry  Wil 
son.  Mrs.  A.  Phillips.  Miss  C.  Williamson. 
Miss  M.  E.  Townsend.  Mrs.  Mary  K.  R....<a. 


Auxiliary  Church  Celebrations,  Sun 
day,  December  10th,  1905 


Held  in  response  to  Appeal  to  Clergymen  by  Boston 
Suffrage  League  Committee 


The  citizens  celebration  had  no 
sessions  Sunday  night,  which  time 
was  purposely  left  for  each  church 
to  hold  a  Garrison  celebration  of  its 
own.  The  part  taken  by  the  Boston 
Suffrage  league  in  these  Sunday  even 
ing  services  consisted  in  issuing  the 
following  "Appeal  to  the  Clergymen 
of  the  United  States  for  Garrison's 
Centenary." 

"To  the  clergymen  of  New  England 
and  of  the  United  States: — The  un 
dersigned,  a  sub-committee  of  the 
Garrison  Centenary  committee  of  the 
Suffrage  League  of  Boston  and  vicin 
ity,  under  whose  auspices  a  celebra 
tion  is  to  be  held  in  Boston  on  Decem 
ber  10  and  11.  believing  William 
Lloyd  Garrison  to  be  one  of  the  nob 
lest  characters  in  our  country's  his 
tory  and  one  of  its  greatest  benefac 
tors,  as  well  as  one  of  the  world's 
greatest  moral  agitators,  earnestly 
petition  you  to  take  cognizance  of  the 
100th  birthday  of  this  great  American 
on  Sunday,  Dec.  10. 

"As  representatives  of  that  ele 
ment,  for  whose  freedom  Garrison 
gave  the  best  efforts  of  his  life  with 
such  success,  we  appeal  to  you  to 
utilize  this  occasion  to  aror.se  the 
American  people  to  a  sense  of  the 
enormity  of  the  present  evil  of  Ne 
gro-American  serfdom  through  the 
nullification  of  those  amendments  to 
the  constitution  which  are  the  dearly 
bought  fruits  of  the  war  for  freedom, 
and  to  start  a  second  Garrisonian 
movement  to  abolish  Negro-American 
selfdom  in  this  land  as  the  first  Gar 
rison  movement  abolished  Negro- 
American  chattel  slavery  in  the  past, 
that  it  may  be  in  very  truth  the  'land 
of  the  free.'  " 
(Signed) 

EMORY   T.   MORRIS,  Cambridge, 

REV.   WM.   H.   SCOTT,   Woburn. 

CHAS.  H.  HALL,  Cambridge, 

Committee. 


This  appeal  was  widely  disseminat 
ed  and  bore  fruit  many  miles  from 
Boston.  In  Greater  Boston  it  was 
accepted  and  acted  upon  with  cele 
brations  on  Sunday  night,  Dec.  10, 
by  the  Twelfth  Baptist  church,  Charles 
Street  A.  M.  E..  St.  Paul  Baptist, 
Morning  Star  Baptist,  Calvary  Bap 
tist  of  Boston,  the  Union  Baptist  of 
Cambridge,  Centre  Street  Baptist  of 
Maiden,  Zion  Baptist  of  Lynn,  Shiloh 
Baptist  of  Everett  and  others. 
Abridged  accounts  of  such  of  these  as 
could  be  secured  by  the  committee 
are  here  given  as  they  were  auxiliary 
to,  and  in  that  sense  a  part  of,  the 
citizens'  celebration. 

AT    TWELFTH     BAPTIST    CHURCH, 
PHILLIPS   STREET,    BOSTON. 


A  Garrison  Centennial  meeting,  aux 
iliary  to  the  Citizens'  meeting  was 
held  at  the  Twelfth  Baptist  church,  on 
Phillips  street  of  which  Rev.  M.  A.  N. 
Shaw  is  pastor,  Sunday  night,  Dec.  10, 
in  response  to  the  appeal  of  the  Boston 
Suffrage  League.  It  was  a  notable 
meeting,  among  the  speakers  being 
Mrs.  Lucia  Ames  Mead,  Rev.  <3harles 
F.  Dole,  president  of  the  Twentieth 
Century  Club,  Rev.  Francis  G.  Rich 
ardson,  registrar  of  the  Boston  Uni 
versity  School  of  Medicine,  John  R. 
Murphy,  Esq.,  Speaker  Louis  A.  Froth- 
ingham  of  the  Massachusetts  House  of 
Representatives,  and  Mr.  William  L. 
Reed,  executive  messenger  to  the 
governor.  The  musical  program  was 
elaborate,  consisting  of  an  augmented 
chorus,  a  quartet  and  solos.  Mrs. 
Ames  was  presented  with  a  bouquet 
of  cut  flowers  by  Miss  Josephine  Sel- 
den  of  the  church  who  made  a  neat 
speech  of  presentation. 

Rev.  Shaw  opened  with  an  eloquent 
tribute  to  Garrison  who  used  to  speak 
from  that  same  pulpit.  He  spoke  of 


ONK    HrNDRKDTH    ANNIVKRSARV 


Garrison's  reliance  on  incessant  agita 
tion  of  wrongs  to  get  rid  of  them. 

Mrs.  Ames  eulogized  Garrison  as  a 
man  of  clean  life  and  of  great  adher 
ence  to  principle,  a  great  moral  hero. 
She  then  dwelt  upon  the  need  of  ap 
plying  the  spirit  of  Garrison  to  the 
reform  of  present  day  evils,  especial 
ly  that  of  corrupt  city  politics,  advis 
ing  all  to  vote  for  Mr.  Frothingham. 

Hon.  John  R.  Murphy  spoke  very 
eloquently  on  Mr.  Garrison.  He  knew 
Wendell  Phillips  personally  and  of:en 
talked  with  him  about  the  anti-slav 
ery  cause.  He  said  that  the  original 
conception  of  the  plan  to  destroy  slav 
ery  was  Garrison's  though  others 
worked  in  the  cause.  Referring  to 
the  fact  that  slavery  was  abolished  by 
war  he  said  that  while  he  did  not  be 
lieve  bloodshed  was  always  necessary 
to  reform  yet  it  was  a  weak  cause  th?.t 
was  no*  worth  dying  for.  (Applause.) 

He  said  that  he  foresaw  the  early 
coming  of  the  ideal  of  fraternity  and 
that  it  would  come  from  espousal  of 
the  ideal  of  Americanism  under  which 
lines  of  race,  color  and  creed  would 
vanish.  America  was  made  up  of  all 
races,  colors  and  creeds. 

"You  have  done  your  share,"  said 
the  speaker,  "in  all  the  wars  that  have 
saved  and  upbuilt  and  made  glorious 
the  country,  and  shoulder  to  shoulder 
with  your  white  fellow  citizens  you 
will  contribute  to  all  its  victories  in 
peace."  (Applause.) 

Mr.  William  L.  Reed,  executive  mes 
senger  to  the  governor  referred  to 
the  great  meeting  at  the  Smith  Court 
Synagogue  as  giving  him  inspiration. 
He  said  he  enjoyed  the  remarks  of  Mr. 
Murphy  as  those  of  a  man  belonging 
to  another  race  that  had  been  perse 
cuted  in  this  country  but  had  forged 
to  the  front.  He  spoice  of  some  speak 
er  at  the  20th  Century  club  who  said 
Garrison  lacked  wholly  commonsense 
in  his  methods  of  trying  to  free  the 
slaves.  Mr.  Reed  said  that  was  the 
trouble  with  the  public  today.  Any 
man  who  said  peonage  was  slavery, 
disfranchisement  serfdom  and  who 
censured  public  officials  for  ignoring 
the  great  principle  would  be  consid 
ered  "indiscreet." 

The  pastor,  after  remarking  that 
politics  in  the  sense  of  good  citizen 
ship  had  a  rightful  place  in  the  church. 
a  remark  caused  by  the  arrival  of 
Speaker  Frothingham,  introduced 
with  an  extraordinary  tribute  Prof. 
Frank  C.  Richardson,  Registrar  of  tho 


Boston  University  School  of  Medicine. 
Prof.  Richardson  delivered  a  notable 
address.  He  said  in  part: 

Of  the  many  lessons  to  be  learned 
from  a  contemplation  'of  the  career 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison,  none  to 
my  mind  constitute  a  more  precious 
heritage  to  your  race  than  the  self- 
culture,  independent  thought  and 
steadfastness  of  purpose  which  his  life 
exemplified. 

Reared  in  poverty,  an  errand  boy, 
a  wood  sawyer,  a  printer's  apprentice, 
with  scarcely  a  common  school  edu 
cation  as  we  understand  it  today,  by 
his  own  effort  he  cultivated  his  rea 
soning  faculty,  and  his  powers  of  ex 
pression  till  he  raised  himself  to 
heights  from  which  his  voice  wat> 
heard  around  the  world.  By  his  inde 
pendence  of  thought  and  steadfastness 
of  purpose  he  came  to  be  a  leader  of 
men — the  emancipator  of  a  race  and 
swayed  a  nation's  destiny. 

Edison  once  said  that  genius  was  2 
percent  genius  and  98  percent  hard 
work. 

So  it  is  with  our  accomplishment — 
while  something  may  be  due  to  natural 
ability,  far  more  is  the  result  of  ear 
nest  effort.  It  is  well  to  remember 
that  there  can  be  no  actual  equality 
among  men.  Every  man's  future  de 
pends  upon  himself.  It  is  well  for 
you  to  remember  that  the  equal  rights 
which  William  Lloyd  Garrison  labor 
ed  so  earnestly  for  years  to  obtain 
are  the  rights  and  opportunities  equal 
to  those  of  every  other  man,  to  store 
your  mind  with  knowledge;  to  culti 
vate  the  habit  of  independent  thought 
to  upbuild  your  character  to  its  rich 
est,  fullest  fruition  until  you  shall 
have  won  the  admiration  and  respect 
of  the  world. 

It  has  been  said  in  criticism  of  yo-  r 
race  that  you  are  emotional.  I  would 
not  have  you  otherwise.  He  who  has 
no  strength  of  emotion,  no  passion  of 
sorrow  or  of  joy  is  far  removed  from 
the  ideal  of  manhood,  but  see  to  it 
that  your  emotion  is  governed  by  self- 
control;  is  tempered  by  the  light  of 
reason. 

It  has  been  said  of  you  that  you  are 
merely  imitative.  What  more,  I  ask, 
could  have  been  reasonably  expected 
of  you  during  the  past  years  of  your 
mental  awakening?  To  the  lasting 
credit  of  your  race  be  it  said  that  the 
examples  you  have  followed  have 
more  often  than  otherwise  been  of 
the  best — your  ideals  the  highest. 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


You  have  passed  through  the  stage 
of  mere  imitation — you  have  learned 
to  think — to  reason.  The  time  is  now 
at  hand  for  you  to  originate,  to  create. 

Whatever  your  walk  of  life  it  shoald 
be  your  ambition  and  steadfast  pur 
pose  to  be  not  only  the  equal  of  others 
but  the  best  in  your  particular  Held. 

The  women  should  strive  for  excel 
lence  in  domestic  arts  and  should  cul 
tivate  those  refinements  for  which  the 
work-a-day  life  of  the  man  leaves  him 
no  time,  but  which  through  woman's 
influence  rescues  the  world  from  brut- 
ishness. 

The  man  should  enter  the  competi 
tion  of  life  with  the  determination  to 
do  his  best,  but  to  play  the  game 
square  to  the  end,  never  swerving  one 
jot  from  the  straight  path  of  honor 
and  truth  as  revealed  to  him  by  the 
light  of  his  reason.  Let  him  make 
honest  and  fearless  inquiry  in  all 
things,  prove  all  things  and  hold  fast 
that  which  is  good. 

"Thank  God,  the  past  is  not  the 
present.  For  its  opportunities  and 
deeds  we  are  not  responsible.  It  is  for 
us  to  discharge  the  high  duties  that 
devolve  on  us,  and  carry  our  wave  on 
ward.  To  be  no  better,  no  greater 
than  the  past,  is  to  be  little  and  fool 
ish  and  bad;  it  is  to  misapply  noble 
means,  to  sacrifice  glorious  opportuni 
ties  for  the  performance  of  sublime 
deeds,  to  become  cumberers  of  the 
ground." 

Rev.  Shaw  introduced  Mr.  Frothing- 
ham  not  as  candidate  for  mayor  but 
as  Speaker  of  the  House.  Mr.  Froth- 
ingham  eulogized  Garrison  and  pro 
phesied  the  doing  away  with  race  lines 
in  the  future.  He  declared  the  Color 
ed  people  could  now  start  a  new  era 
with,  in  Massachusetts  at  least,  the 
best  blood  of  the  country  with  them. 

Rev.  Charles  F.  Dole,  president  of 
the  Twentieth  Century  Club  after  in 
terjecting  that  he  hoped  Mr.  Froth- 
ingham  would  be  elected,  said  the 
question  was  whether  from  all  thes? 
Garrison  celebrations  over  the  country 
there  would  be  any  result  in  the  peo 
ple  living  up  to  Garrison  ideals.  He 
s^id  the  great  question  was  the  pro 
portion  of  the  beautiful  qualities  in 
the  Colored  race,  it  being  admitted 
these  qualities  were  possessed  by  the 
race. 

Beside  the  large  chorus  under  Prof. 
McClenny,  there  was  a  selection  by 
the  Crescent  Male  Quartet  and  a  solo 
by  Miss  Maybelle  Grant,  accompanied 
on  the  organ  by  Prof.  Fred  White. 


The  audience  was  an  unusually  large 
one  filling  the  galleries  as  well  as  the 
floor. 

AT  CHARLES  ST.  A.  M.  E.  CHURCH, 
CHARLES    ST.,     BOSTON. 


An  immense  crowd,  Sunday  night, 
packed  the  large  auditorium  of 
Charles  Street  church  and.  filled  the 
galleries,  the  special  feature  of  the 
evening's  service  being  the  Garrison 
centenary  meeting,  arranged  in  re 
sponse  to  the  appeal  to  the  clery  of  the 
Boston  Suffrage  league.  Mr.  Oswald 
Garrison  Villard  of  the  New  York 
Evening  Post,  grandson  of  the  great 
emancipator,  had  accepted  an  invita 
tion  to  come  on  from  New  York,  and 
attend  this  meeting,  and  Mrs.  Mary 
Church  Terrell,  who  had  electrified  a 
large  audience  the  Fridav  night  be 
fore,  the  greatest  woman  speaker  of 
her  race,  had  been  announced  to 
speak,  with  others,  in  eulogy  of  the 
man  whose  100th  birthday  the  Colored 
people  of  the  city  were  celebrating. 
The  choir  under  the  leadership  of  the 
chorister,  Mr.  J.  Sherman  Jones,  fur 
nished  excellent  music  throughout  the 
evening.  The  pastor,  Rev.  Reverdy  C. 
Ransom,  in  introducing  as  the  first 
speaker,  Mr.  Villard,  spoke  of  the 
pleasure  it  had  given  him  to  invite  Mr. 
Villard  and  of  his  great  joy  in  receiv 
ing  the  latter's  acceptance  to  honor 
the  occasion  by  his  presence. 

Mr.  Villard  said  that  it  had  not  been 
the  intention  of  any  member  of  the 
family  to  speak  at  any  of  the  various 
meetings  held  in  honor  of  his  grand 
father,  but  that  since  the  rule  had 
been  violated  by  Mr.  Francis  Garrison 
at  the  Joy  street  meeting  in  the  after 
noon,  he  felt  free  to  express  at  least 
his  thanks  to  the  Colored  people  of 
Boston  for  the  manner  in  which  they 
had  honored  his  grandfather.  He  had 
come  with  no  set  speech.  It  was  dif 
ficult,  he  said,  to  express  the  praise 
that  was  due  Mr.  Garrison's  great  and 
noble  life  without  a  seeming  indeli 
cacy  because  of  the  relationship.  But 
if  he  were  here  today  he  would  say 
not  to  honor  him,  but  the  noble  band 
of  heroes  that  supported  him,  and  not 
:o  think  of  the  personalities,  but  of 
the  cause  and  its  triumphs,  and  let  it 
be  an  inspiration.  Mr.  Garrison  was 
a  man  of  peace  and  triumphed  by 
methods  of  peace  and  not  of  violence. 
To  him  it  was  given,  too.  to  see  him 
self  the  success  of  the  cause  which 
few  expected  to  see  triumph  in  less 


ONE    HUNDREDTH    ANNIVERSARY 


than  a  century.  "Therein,"  continued 
the  speaker,  "lies  inspiration  to  us  all, 
to  continue  to  fight  the  battle  of  right 
eousness  not  only  here,  but  wherever 
human  beings  the  world  over  are  be 
ing  oppressed.  In  Garrison's  spirit  I 
urge  you  to  courage  and  faith  as 
you  look  into  the  future.  No  one  ever 
saw  Garrison  downcast.  When  he  de 
cided  the  anti-slavery  forces  should 
organize  only  15  gathered  together, 
and  when  he  proposed  that  in  the 
platform  of  the  new  society  should  be 
the  clause  calling  for  immediate  eman 
cipation,  three  of  his  dearest  friends 
walked  o.:t.  the  only  ones  who  could 
donate  a  hundred  dollars  to  the  cause 
and  not  be  embarrassed.  Yet  in  a  few 
years  800  societies  and  the  national 
anti-slavery  society  had  been  formed. 
What  a  lesson  for  us  when  we  look 
into  the  future,  when  stumbling  blocks 
are  put  in  the  way  of  justice!  There 
was  a  cause  which  seemed  hopeless 
triumphing,  which  showed  that  Garri 
son  possessed  divine  forethought,  and 
that  the  cause  had  supporters.  Re 
member  these  things  when  you  are 
discouraged,  and  put  into  vour  work 
some  of  that  indomitable  spirit,  some 
of  that  righteousness  that  was  Garri 
son's." 

Mr.  E.  E.  Brown  next  spoke  in  elo 
quent  terms  of  eulogy  of  Garrison.  He 
thought  no  man  more  fitting  to  re 
ceive  the  Negro's  love  and  respect 
than  Garrison,  the  great  emancipator 
and  liberator  of  a  people,  and  uncom 
promising  defender  of  their  rights, 
from  whose  life  should  be  derived  the 
lessons  of  fearless  and  dauntless  cour 
age  in  the  face  of  trials  and  difficul 
ties.  He  spoke  of  the  great  scene  of 
the  broadcloth  mob,  and  of  the  occa 
sion  that  enlisted  Wendell  Phillips  to 
the  cause  of  freedom,  and  lamented 
the  dearth  of  men  of  the  stamp  of 
Garrison  and  Phillips  and  Andrews. 

Mrs.  Glendower  Evans,  who  is  an 
agitator  for  clean  politics,  said  that 
it  was  a  tremendous  occasion  to  cele 
brate  the  life  of  so  great  a  man,  and 
regretted  that  though  we  thought  of 
the  deeds  of  the  past  we  did  not  live 
up  to  them.  She  spoke  of  the  cor 
ruption  in  municipal  politics  and  ex 
horted  all  to  help  remove  the  evils. 

The  pastor  introduced  the  next 
speaker,  Mr.  M.  R.  DeMortie.  as  one 
who  had  himself  worked  in  the  anti- 
slavery  cause.  Mr.  DeMortie  began 
his  address,  which  was  teeming  with 
interesting  historical  statements  of 
the  anti-slavery  times,  by  remarking 


that  the  very  choir  which  had  ren 
dered  such  beautiful  music  spoke 
through  and  was  a  tribute  to  Mr.  Gar 
rison,  because  through  him  was  made 
possible  the  opportunity  to  sing.  Mr. 
DeMortie  then  told  of  the  work  of  the 
abolitionists  of  his  own  participation 
and  aroused  much  interest  by  exhibit 
ing  copies  of  The  Liberator.  His  eul 
ogy  of  Mr.  Garrison  and  his  coadjutors 
was  very  impressive.  He  spoke  of  the 
12  men  who  formed  the  anti-slavery 
society  in  the  old  Baptist  church 
in  Joy  street,  as  the  12  apostles  of 
freedom;  he  mentioned  the  names  of 
the  abolitionists,  of  Wm.  C.  Nell,  who 
got  inspiration  from  Crispus  Attucks' 
life,  and  began  agitating  for  a  monu 
ment  to  Attucks,  and  was  moved  also 
to  agitate  for  mixed  schools  in  Bos 
ton.  In  the  course  of  Mr.  De  Mortie's 
remarks  he  spoke  of  a  man  present 
who  saved  Phillips  from  the  mob,  and 
when  the  pastor  called  for  the  man  to 
rise,  Mr.  T.  P.  Taylor  arose,  and  re 
ceived  the  plaudits  of  the  audienca. 

The  last  speaker  was  Mrs.  Mary 
Church  Terrell,  who  stirred  the  audi 
ence  by  her  recital  of  the  wrongs  per 
petrated  on  the  Negroes  today.  She 
painted  a  vivid  and  awful  picture  of 
the  chain  gang,  the  convict  lease  sys 
tem,  lynch  law  and  all  the  horrors  of 
southern  brutality,  and  declared  that 
the  atrocities  in  America  went  far 
beyond  the  murders  of  the  Rusisan 
Jews,  and  that  though  maltreated,  the 
Jews'  social  status  was  always  supe 
rior  to  that  of  the  Negro  in  the  United 
States.  She  longed  for  another  W.  L. 
Garrison  as  needed  now  as  in  the  days 
of  slavery  to  start  such  an  agitation 
that  would  emancipate  the  race  today 
from  its  awful  thraldom.  Mrs.  Ter 
rell's  speech  was  a  masterly  effort, 
showing  a  deep  acquaintance  with  the 
subject,  and  full  of  long  quotations 
from  Garrison's  sayings  and  letters. 
The  audience  was  loud  and  long  in 
its  applause. 

With  Mrs.  Terrell's  address,  after 
singing  by  the  choir,  the  memorable 
event  came  to  an  end. 

AT.    ST.    PAUL    BAPTIST    CHURCH, 
CAMDEN    STREET.    BOSTON. 


In  spite  of  the  stormy  weather,  a 
ereat  audience  assembled  fti  the  St. 
Paul  Baptist  church  Sunday  night  Dec. 
10th,  in  response  to  the  call  of  the 
Boston  Suffrage  league,  to  celebrate 
the  one  hundredth  birthday  of  that 
matchless  hero,  William  Lloyd  Garri- 


BIRTH    OF   WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


73 


son.  The  speakers  were  most  enthu- 
siatically  received.  The  services 
opened  at.  7.30  with  a  sacred  solo  by 
the  organist,  Miss  L.  Hill.  The  pastor, 
Dr.  B.  W.  Farris,  then  arose  and  in 
a  brief  and  timely  speech,  introduced 
Sergeant  Horatio  J.  Homer,  the  pre 
siding  officer,  who  in  a  short  address, 
declared  that  Mr.  Garrison  had  made 
it  possible  for  the  Negro  to  advance  so 
rapidly  in  the  higher  civilization.  He 
then  called  upon  the  Dastor  to  read 
Scripture,  after  which  Deacon  Alfred 
Moore,  who  knew  Mr.  Garrison  person 
ally  was  introduced  to  offer  prayer. 
He  then  introduced  Madame  Nana 
Varrs  Hunter,  who  captured  her  audi 
ence  by  her  sweet  solo.  Professor 
Homer  B.  Sprague  of  Cambridge  de 
livered  a  most  profound  address,  go 
ing  back  to  the  genesis  of  the  Negro 
in  this  country,  and  ending  by  declar 
ing  that  "William  Lloyd  Garrison 
was  the  Moses  of  this  generation." 
He  said  in  part: 

"Slavery  was  introduced  into  this 
country  some  286  years  ago.  It  was 
a  great  hindrance  to  the  progress  of 
our  nation.  It  was  a  great  sin  thai: 
was  committed  by  the  whole  country, 
who  took  stock  in  slave  trade.  The; 
nation  paid  for  this  sin  dearly  by  the 
sacrifice  of  so  many  precious  lives  and 
the  expenditure  of  so  much  money. 
The  character  of  Mr.  Garrison  com 
pels  the  admiration  of  every  true 
American.  The  cause  for  which  he 
stood  was  righteous.  In  his  great 
speech  (which  he  read)  he  said  he 
was  willing  to  trust  the  work  that  he 
had  begun  to  the  true  North  for  com 
pletion,  that  is  the  eaual  rights  of  the 
Negro.  He  was  your  true  friend,  and 
well  have  you  come  to  celebrate  his 
100th  birthday." 

Professor   Sprague   closed   with   the 
following    quotation    from    Lowell: 
"No;   true  freedom  is  to  share 
All  the  chains  our  brothers  wear, 
And  with  heart  and  hand  to  be 
Earnest  to   make  others  free. 
They  are  slaves  who  fear  to  speak 
For  the  fallen  and  the  weak; 
They  are  slaves  who  will  not  choose 
Hatred,   scoffing,  and  abuse, 
Rather  than  in  silence  shrink 
From  the  truth  they  needs  must  think. 
They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  be 
In  the  right  with  two  or  three!" 

The  next  speaker  was  Rabbi  Eich- 
ler,  who  was  received  amid  great  ap 
plause,  and  said: 

"I  consider  it  an  honor  to  have  the 
opportunity  of  standing  upon  the  plat 


form  of  this  old  historic  church  or 
ganization,  upon  whose  platform  Mr. 
Garrison  has  stood  in  defense  of  your 
liberty  and  the  safety  of  the  govern 
ment  years  ago. 

You  have  been  emancipated,  in  part, 
but  you  are  still  passing  through  the 
wilderness  of  American  prejudice; 
you  have  yet  to  come  to  the  posses 
sion  of  the  promised  land.  Your 
progress  in  the  last  40  years  tells  t^e 
world  that  you  will  in  time  reach  that 
promised  land.  Yo.ir  sorrows  are 
felt  keenly  by  our  race.  You  read  the 
daily  papers  and  you  see  how  my  race 
is  suffering  at  the  hand  of  the  cruel 
oppressor  in  the  far  off  East,  under 
the  Russian  government.  Old  men, 
young  men,  old  women  and  young 
women,  children  and  babies,  are  mur 
dered  at  the  cruel  hand  of  the  oppres 
sor.  The  work  Mr.  Garrison  begun 
will  not  be  completed  until  you  reach 
the  promised  land  of  your  equal  rights, 
for  which  he  stood  so  bravely.  You 
honor  a  great  man  today;  he  is  to  this 
race  in  part,  what  Moses  was  to  the 
Jew,  and  with  you  we  bow  in  honor  to 
his  memory.  That  God  is  the  father 
of  us  all  and  that  God  who  led  the  Jew 
©ut  of  bondage  into  the  promised 
land,  was  leading  the  Negro.  Let  him 
be  a  man  and  stand  up  for  his  rights; 
they  will  come  in  time;  Garrison  has 
made  it  possible."  The  choir  then 
sang.  Seated  upon  the  platform 
next  to  Rev.  Farris,  were  Mrs. 
Fanny  Garrison  Villard  and  son,  Mr. 
Harold  Garrison  Villard,  and 
at  this  time  the  presiding  officer  called 
upon  Dr.  Farris  to  introduce  Mrs.  Vil 
lard,  with  a  five  minutes'  eulogy  that 
brought  forth  loud  applause,  the  great 
audience  arose  and  received  Mrs.  Vil 
lard  amidst  the  most  enthusiastic 
gratefulness.  After  they  were  seated 
and  the  applause  had  died  away,  she 
delivered  a  20-minute  address,  saying: 

"Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentle 
men:  Words  cannot  express  my  joy  in 
being  here  tonight.  When  Mr.  Farris. 
your  pastor,  invited  me  in  New  York 
city  to  be  present  here  tonight,  I  ac 
cepted  the  kind  invitation  with  pleas 
ure.  So  much  has  been  said  in  com 
mendation  of  the  earnest  deeds  of  my 
father  that  I  hardly  know  how  to  ex 
press  my  appreciation.  I  was  down 
to  the  old  Joy  street  meeting  house 
this  afternoon,  to  that  great  meeting, 
and  my  heart  was  filled  as  I  listened 
and  thought  of  how  my  father  spoke 
from  that  platform  in  defense  of  your 
liberty.  Your  pastor  said  in  introduc- 


74 


ONK   HL'NDRKDTH    ANMVKRSARV 


ing  me  that  our  home  was  always 
filled  with  visitors,  who  were  interest 
ed  in  the  movement  of  freeing  your 
race.  I  would  often  go  to  bed  in  one 
place  and  wake  in  the  morning  in  an 
other  place,  having  been  moved  dur 
ing  the  night  and  my  bed  given  to 
strangers.  My  father  used  to  sav  to 
me,  'Daughter,  you  have  a  nice  bed 
and  lovely  home  and  all  comforts,  but 
the  poor  little  Colored  girl  has  no  bed, 
no  com  forts,  no  home,  how  happy  you 
ought  to  be  and  what  a  good  girl  you 
ought  to  be!' 

"But  mv  father  was  not  only  inter 
ested  in  the  emancipation  of  your 
race;  he  was  also  interested  in  the 
women  and  worked  hard  in  this  direc 
tion.  In  fact  he  was  interested  in 
every  good  and  rigt*v,eous  cause;  he 
was  truly  an  honest  advocater  against 
wrong.  He  stood  for  higher  life. 

"Our  family  was  happy,  our  home 
pleasant,  because  neither  my  father 
nor  my  mother,  nor  the  children  took 
difficulties  hard;  we  always  rose 
above  the  situation  and  were  happy, 
because  we  were  working  for  a  prin 
ciple  that  would  live  on,  though  we 
die.  If  my  father  could  come  back 
here  now,  he  would  be  much  mortified 
to  know  that  those  principles  for 
which  he  stood  and  suffered,  and  that 
were  accomplished  by  giving  the  Col 
ored  people  their  franchise,  had  been 
rescinded  and  the  South  no  longer  re 
garded  your  race  as  citizens.  But  let 
us  hope  for  a  better  future,  and  one 
hundred  years  hence,  I  trust  all 
wrongs  will  have  been  made  right  and 
your  race  enjoy  that  happy  freedom 
for  which  my  father  suffered  and  to 
which  cause  he  so  earnestly  save  a 
great  part  of  his  life.  I  thank  you  for 
listening  so  attentively  to  my  re 
marks." 

Other  brief  addresses  were  then  de 
livered  and  the  program  was  closed 
by  a  chorus,  "Awake  the  Song." 

AT       MORNING       STAR          BAPTIST 
CHURCH,    BOSTON. 


The  Morning  Star  Baptist  church 
Garrison  celebration  on  Sunday  eve 
ning  was  of  especially  good  quality, 
being  held  under  the  auspices  of  the 
Boston  Suffrage  League.  After 
prayer  by  the  pastor,  Rev.  Martin 
L.  Harvey,  the  programme  opened 
with  an  •  appropriate  speech  from 
Mr.  W.  W.  Doherty,  who  empha 
sized  the  work  of  the  league  and  said 
it  was  following  in  the  steps  of  Gar 
rison,  and  concluded  with  the  assur 


ance  that  Garrison's  work  would  live 
on  forever  and  that  it  behooved  all 
of  us  to  emulate  his  example  and 
work  with  his  spirit.  Mr.  H.  B.  Black- 
well  spoke  next  and  said  in  part  that 
Garrison  was  the  right  man  for  the 
right  time  and  that  his  work  was 
done  so  truly  and  so  well  that  its  ef 
fect  is  lasting  even  up  to  this  day. 
Miss  Alice  Blackwell  was  next  intro 
duced  in  place  of  Mrs.  Julia  W.  Howe. 
Her  remarks  were  enthusiastic  and 
interesting  and  included  many  person 
al  reminiscences  of  Mr.  Garrison  with 
whom  she  had  a  close  acquaintance. 
He  had  been  a  source  of  great  inspir 
ation  to  her,  and  she  thoroughly  be 
lieved  in  his  principles.  S'he  claimed 
that  this  celebration  should  inspire 
all  of  us  to  work  harder  in  the  great 
cause  of  human  rights  and  that  we 
should  look  to  Garrison  for  encourage 
ment. 

Mr.  B.  F.  Trueblood  referred  to  the  ex 
cellent  work  being  done  by  the  Suf 
frage  league  and  said  that  while  Gar 
rison  was  primarily  a  man  of  pow 
er,  yet  he  accomplished  such  a  vast 
amount  of  good  that  his  name  would 
ever  be  connected  Wi...  every  move 
ment  for  manhood's  rights.  Rev. 
Byron  Gunner  of  Newport  contri 
bute  1  a  strong  and  able  address  in 
which  he  claimed  that  Garrison  was  a 
faithful  man  and  feared  God  above 
all  else:  that  he  was  true  to  his  con 
victions,  especially  to  his  convictions 
of  slavery's  wrongs.  He  continued 
that  Garrison  was  true  to  the  work  af 
ter  he  had  begun  it  and  stood  by  it 
through  every  struggle.  Mr.  Gunner 
said  further  that  he  hoped  a  lasting 
inspiration  by  this  memorial  would  be 
made  on  the  hearts  of  all. 

Mr.  Davis  of  Maiden  concluded  the 
program  with  a  forceful  and  appreci 
ative  speech. 


AT 


ZION          BAPTIST       CHURCH. 
LYNN,    MASS. 


A  Garrison  Memorial  meeting  was 
held  with  special  exercises  Sunday 
night,  Dec.  10th,  1905,  at  the  Zion  Bap 
tist  church,  corner  of  Fayette  and 
Adams  streets,  Lynn,  Mass.  The  ad 
dress  of  the  evening  was  delivered  by 
the  pastor,  Rev.  P.  Thomas  Stanford, 
D.  D.,  M.  D..  LL.  D.,  his  subject  be 
ing  "The  Voice  of  Wm.  Lloyd  Garri 
son." 

He  said  in  part: 

"The  Suffrage  League  of  Boston 
has  issued  an  appeal  to  the  clergymen 


BIRTH    OF    WILLIAM    LLOYD    GARRISON 


75 


people  to  unite  on  the  10th  and  llth 
of  this  month,  today  and  tomorrow, 
and  fittingly  recognize  the  centenary 
of  William  Lloyd  Garrison. 

"In  his  last  days  Mr.  Garrison  frank 
ly  ascribed  all  that  he  had  been  or 
done  to  the  training,  example  and  in 
fluence  of  his  mother,  whose  early  his 
tory  was  of  uncommon  interest.  He 
was  her  second  son  and  loved  her  with 
all  his  soul,  mind  and  spirit.  Her  ac 
tions,  words  and  deeds  were  as  if  with 
•in  iron  pen  cut  into  his  very  being 
and  shaped  his  character. 

After  speaking  of  Garrison's  con 
version  to  Immediatism  and  of  his  im 
prisonment  at  Baltimore,  his  fine  hav 
ing  been  paid  by  Arthur  Tappan,  Rev. 
Stanford  continued : 

"July  1,  1831,  Mr.  Garrison  issued 
the  first  edition  of  the  Liberator.  He 
had  no  money  or  friends,  and  he  and 
his  partner,  Isaac  Knapp,  were  too 
poor  to  hire  an  office  of  their  own,  but 
the  foreman  of  The  Christian  Exami 
ner  employed  them  as  journeymen, 
taking  their  labor  as  pay  for  the  use 
of  his  type.  James  Foster,  a  Colored 
man  of  Philadelphia,  bought  the  first 
Liberator  for  $50. 

"Laboring  under  such  unfavorable 
circumstances,  he  was  not  disheart 
ened.  For  35  years  the  brave  Garrison 
contended  for  the  immediate  enfran 
chisement  of  the  slave  against  many 
odds,  unkind  treatment  and  imprison 
ment.  Just  35  years  on  the  first  day 
of  January,  1866,  Garrison  had  the 
happiness  of  announcing  that  the  glo 
rious  work  to  which  he  had  devoted 
himself  was  finally  finished. 

Rev.  Stanford  closed  with  an  ap 
peal  to  his  fellow  Americans  to  start 
n  second  Garrisonian  movement  to 
abolish  Negro-American  serfdom. 

AT  CENTRE  ST.  BAPTIST  CHURCH, 
MALDEN,    MASS. 


At  7.15  p.  m.,  December  10, 
1905,  at  the  Centre  Street  Baptist 
church,  Maiden,  Mass.,  the  ser 
vices  were  opened  by  the  choir's 
singing  "Praise  God  from  Whom  All 
Blessings  Flow."  Invocation  was  by 
Rev.  O.  F.  Tate,  after  which  E.  A. 
Washington,  the  chorister,  led  the 
congregation  .in  singing  "My  Coun 
try;"  the  pastor,  Rev.  J.  H.  Wiley, 
then  read  the  60th  chapter  of  Isaiah, 
and  Deacon  M.  H.  Smith  offered 
prayer,  and  the  next  was  singing  by 


the  choir,  one  of  Mr.  Garrison's  fa 
vorite  hymns,  "Awake  My  Soul, 
Stretch  Every  Nerve."  After  a 
short  speech  by  Deacon  J.  Davis,  the 
choir  chanted  the  23d  Psalm.  Then 
Rev.  Wiley  arose  and  took  for  his  text 
Isaiah  61,  1st  and  2d  verses  and  from 
this  prophecy  he  pictured  the  like 
ness  of  Garrison  and  Christ  in  their 
work.  Christ  worked  for  the  eman 
cipation  of  man's  soul;  Garrison 
worked  for  the  emancipation  of  man's 
body.  Then  Deacon  E.  Derry  offered 
prayer,  and  after  that  Deacon  P. 
Sneed  took  up  a  good  celebration  col 
lection,  and  the  congregation  united 
in  singing  "Blest  Be  the  Tie  That 
Binds."  At  9.30  benediction  bv  Fath 
er  Tate. 

AT     CALVARY     BAPTIST    CHURCH, 
SHAWMUT  AVENUE,   BOSTON. 

At  the  Calvary  Baptist  Church,  Bos 
ton,  Sunday  night,  Dec.  10th,  there  was 
a  joint  Garrison  celebration  by  church 
and  Sunday  School.  Mr.  L.  E.  Pasco, 
church  clerk,  presided.  Rev.  S.  J.  Com 
fort,  the  pastor,  read  the  Boston  Suf 
frage  League's  Appeal  and  welcomed 
the  Sunday  School.  Mrs.  Mary  How 
ard,  superintendent,  made  the  re 
sponse.  Miss  Marie  Johnson  read  a 
poem  on  Garrison  composed  by  the 
late  Elijah  Smith,  father  of  Mrs.  J.  M. 
Burrell.  An  eloquent  oration  on  Gar 
rison  was  delivered  by  John  M.  Bur 
rell,  Esq.  The  choir,  Prof.  J.  S.  Pol 
len,  director,  sang  several  hymns.  Rev. 
Taylor  pronounced  the  benediction. 
The  meeting  was  enthusiastic  and  in 
spiring. 

AT       UNION       BAPTIST       CHURCH, 
MAIN    ST.,   CAMBRIDGE. 


At  the  Union  Baptist  church,  Cam 
bridge,  Sunday  night,  Dec.  10th,  the 
Rev.  Jesse  Harrell,  D.  D.,  spoke  on  the 
100th  anniversary  of  Wm.  Lloyd  Garri 
son.  He  spoke  of  the  great  and  good 
men  being  a  gift  from  God.  Wm.  Lloyd 
Garrison  was  a  broad-hearted  man 
and  a  lover  of  all  mankind.  He  made 
a  great  sacrifice  of  his  time  and  labor 
ed  for  the  freedom  of  the  Colored 
race.  The  pastor  urged  upon  the  peo 
ple  to  follow  his  example  and  pre 
cepts.  He  also  spoke  on  the  no-license 
question,  urged  upon  the  people  to 
vote  no.  The  choir  rendered  special 
selections  and  the  congregation  was 
good. 


